Facing Bundles of Crises

There were several crises in Pakistan’s early years that resulted from the attitude of the first generation of Indian leaders towards their sister state. These led to the stoppage of electricity to Lahore, at that time the new country’s largest city. Tinkering with the flow of water into the canals that had their ‘head-works’ in India created a sense of panic in Pakistan. At one point, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan threatened war with India if the flow of water was disrupted. The state of uncertainty produced was partially resolved by the Indus Water Treaty of 1960. But issues remain and will need to be addressed as Pakistan begins to take steps to deal with the faster-than-normal melting of the Himalayan glaciers. Perhaps, the most significant crisis provoked by India was the trade embargo imposed on Pakistan. This was in retaliation to Pakistan’s refusal to follow India and devalue its currency with respect to the American dollar. The embargo profoundly changed Pakistan’s economic history. It led to Pakistan’s rapid industrialization, as well as the switch in its exports to new channels. Before the embargo, Pakistan’s exports to, and imports from, India made up the bulk of its trade. Now India is a minor trading partner.

Domestic terrorism of various kinds is the result of another kind of failure. Violence of various kinds, to which the country has been subjected in recent years, is the consequence of the country’s failure to move forward with the development of a viable political order. Broadly speaking, it can be traced to three reasons. There are groups that are using violence as a mode of political expression since political institutions are not well developed to cater to the demands and aspirations of different groups of people. This is the main reason why the Muhajir, the Pashton and the Sindhi communities are fighting it out on Karachi’s streets rather that settling their differences in the political space. Sectarian violence is the result of the inability of the state to send a clear message to its perpetrators that religious differences will not be allowed to be settled on the street. Extremism has become a force since the political establishment has not been able to define what was behind the ‘idea of Pakistan’. Was the idea to create an Islamic state or to create a state for the Muslims of the South Asian subcontinent?

Pakistan, a country that has seen so many crises in the past should have learnt to deal with them. This did not happen because of the failure of the policymakers to understand what produced these crises before formulating responses to them. This is what the current administration in Pakistan needs to do.thanks for reading my article.