But how would you codify pluralism and religious impartiality in a system where the sate is not separated from religion? I mean we have a secular constitution and yet we're always teetering on the edge of religious fanaticism. If a states's legislature, judiciary and constitution are biased towards any religion then automatically you've got a scenario where religious impartiality will not exist.
For my part I really do agree with Kemalist ideology though.
No not really !
Let assume two things to begin with :
(a) None of those terms are to be considered in their extreme because even in the case of Impartiality or Pluralism or any other term for that matter, you've got certain 'red-lines'.
(b) An individual may hold whatever opinion they so desire but when it comes to the community the need to ask the following questions arises :
(1) What would we define as a Communal (as in Community-Based) Issue ?
(2) What constitutes that limits of 'individual freedom' & 'societal prerogatives' ? Where does one edge out the other, either way ?
(3) How do we settle the above questions ? What mechanism can we come up with ?
As such we're left with 3 choices :
(i) Whatever Gods thereby descend from the Heavens & adjudicate our matters & govern us mere mortals !
(ii) A mortal man from amongst us rises to a position of power & thinks himself to be the best person to Govern us & point us in the right direction because we're too stupid or too divided to do that for ourselves.
Or (iii) You propose a system whereby you put forth your views on how things should be, argue your point of view & let the most 'heads' that say 'Aye' or 'Nay' be the decisive thing !
Now if we were to choose Option (iii) then all of the above is completely irrelevant as to what could or could not happen or whether such & such would be the wrong thing to do because you've just devolved what is going to happen & the rightness & wrongness of a particular problem to the People !
And so if the People decide A - Fine....! If they decide B - Works for me ! If they in turn decide C - Great !
I don't have to like it & I most certainly don't have to agree with it on a personal level & I should be allowed to voice my opinion on why I think the way I do so that this decision maybe be revisited at a later date & perhaps rectified ! I just have to respect it as the boon of our mechanism of choice to determine all our communal considerations !
This is where I think 'Pluralism' & 'Impartiality' comes in - Let everyone put forth their opinion, irrespective of their religious, ethnic, linguistic or otherwise affiliations & let the democratic process determine what would be the outcome of the debate !
And so if a people decide - Taliban Styled Government or a Kemalist Styled Democracy, a US styled Democracy, an Iranian Theocracy or something paradigmatically different (as I perceive Pakistan was supposed to be) - Let them decide for themselves with whatever limits they impose upon themselves & the decision under question !
So its not really about any one element of the State being biased in favor of any one particular religion or paradigm for they all are & yet none of them is which is to say 'We're not talking about praying 5 times a day or fasting in the month of Ramazan' or something like that we're talking about, what we, perceive to be the social, legal, political & economic paradigms that Islam gives us or we think it gives us - Incorporating them or leaving them out should be the prerogative of the masses as opposed to an imposed decision of either Zia or Stalin !