The problem of Pakistan is an identity crisis, in that, though Pakistan was created to give the Moslems of India a homeland for Moslem, Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, in his inaugural address to the Constituent Assembly, desired Pakistan to be a secular nation where all could practise their Faiths without discrimination. There started the dichotomy in identity! Pakistan, a Moslem haven and yet wanting to be secular! Islam and secularism, even as per the Islamic scripture, is as nearbred as chalk to cheese. Dar ul Islam and Dar ul Harb!
While Jinnah may have desired secularism with a mere touch of Islamic supremacy, yet the psychology of the people did not, and rightly so, since they had suffered, as did Indians, huge riots that claimed millions of lives. Obviously, one could not forget their suffering and hence Islam took foundation uber alles, being the raison d’ être for Pakistan being formed! And it was not as per Islamic tenets of Dar ul Islam and Dar ul Harb!
The people of the areas that became Pakistan were basically feudal and illiterate and their livelihood was in agriculture or the Armed Forces. On the other hand, those who migrated (the Mohajirs) were educated, emancipated and were people who were in institutions of a democracy i.e. lawyers, bureaucrats, petty businessmen etc. However, the important aspect was that they were rootless since their identity with “the soil" was left in India! Those who have been refugees can alone understand the heartbreak this is!
It was the Mohajirs who took over the governance and economy of Pakistan. Obviously, it was not appreciated by the original inhabitants of the areas that became Pakistan. The armed forces, composed of the original inhabitants, exerted to resume control of the area, and thus foundationed the psyche of martial law repeatedly afflicting Pakistan! The psyche of the Armed Forces being supreme has become so ingrained and powerful that it is ridiculously interesting that Pakistan is being currently ruled by a Mohajir i.e. Parvez Musharraf!
The Mohajirs, being educated and clever, realised that regionalism would leave them no place in Pakistan politics, which they were controlling (Jinnah was a Mohajir and technically a heretic since he married a non Moslem i.e. a Parsi), pulled out Islam as a all embracing card and as the be all and end all of Pakistan! Obviously, none could challenge that!
Providence came to the rescue of the Mohajirs – the Kashmir Issue wherein a Hindu ruler with Moslem population, acceded to India. It served both the Mohajir as also the Army (of original inhabitants) interests. Thus, Islam was supreme, and yet the Army was required to deliver. Practical application is more important than theory. Hence, the Army became the power behind the throne!
Thus, Pakistan is but a tussle for supremacy between Islam and the military and India is a convenient whipping boy for all ills that besot Pakistan! Even the British came for a beating since Radcliff (the one who worked out the boundaries) failed to give India to Pakistan!
