Pakistan gained independence on August 14, 1947 as an outcome of the Two-Nation theory. This theory states that the Hindus and Muslims of undivided India are two distinct communities that cannot exist within a single state without discrimination against each other. This resulted in the devastating partition, which led to an estimated 20 million people getting displaced and up to 20 lakh people getting killed. The partition of undivided India in 1947 remains the largest forced migration in contemporary history.
It is said that a big machine may continue to run even if it has one manufacturing defect. But if this machine continues to run, then more defects may emerge in that machine. The history of Pakistan after independence is one of machines with a manufacturing defect. Pakistan was created for the Muslim-majority areas of undivided India, including 8 million Muslims who migrated from Pakistan. So, Pakistan started its existence as an independent nation with a major manufacturing defect. A region that had centuries of co-existence of all communities attempted to model itself as an Islamist state was bound to fail.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, became the first Governor General of Pakistan. Jinnah continued his anti-India tirade by launching the first war against India in October 1947 to annex Jammu & Kashmir forcibly. This attempt by Pakistan was unconventional because it exploited the face of tribal raiders but had the force of the Pakistani Army backing it. In essence, it can be called the original form of ‘hybrid warfare’ by Pakistan, much before the world actually coined the term. Pakistan failed to achieve its aim, but the seeds of anti-India sentiments were sown. So, another manufacturing defect emerged in Pakistan.
Pakistani Army realised that the only way to remain relevant in the country is to continue on the path of animosity with India, with the Kashmir issue as the focus of attention. The foreign policy of Pakistan accordingly modified its stance and continued the diplomatic pressure on India through the support of the Islamic world. At the time of partition, India and Pakistan divided their military assets in the ratio of 60:40 respectively. While India did not pay much attention to the modernisation of its armed forces, Pakistan went ahead with modernisation, with military aid from the USA and the Islamic world. Pakistan obviously was preparing for a military conflict with India, with little attention to the development of the country.
India adopted its written constitution on January 26, 1950, but Pakistan continued to function under an interim constitution guided by the Government of India Act 1935. Pakistan formally adopted its first constitution in 1956, establishing it as an Islamic republic with parliamentary system of government. This constitution was short lived and was abrogated in the year 1958, when Pakistan came under military rule for the first time. President Ayub Khan established a presidential system of government in 1962, but it was suspended in 1969 and abrogated in 1972. The present constitution of Pakistan was adopted in 1973, after East Pakistan was lost in a war with India in December 1971 to become Bangladesh.
Though constitutionally, Pakistan is officially a parliamentary democracy, with Prime Minister as the head of government, two other power centres have also emerged in the country. One is the President, and the second one now who holds extra-constitutional authority is the Chief of the Pakistan Army. Unlike India, where Army, Navy, and Air Force chiefs occupy an equivalent status, only the Pakistan Army chief wields so much power. In Pakistan, Navy and Air Force chiefs do not have much role in the decision-making of the country. This is another major manufacturing defect in Pakistan.
The history of martial law in Pakistan gives another interesting account of our western neighbour. The country has seen four official declarations of martial law in 1958, 1969, 1977 and 1999. The country has been under military rule for more than 35 years, virtually half of its existence as an independent country. Pakistan has lost all the wars against India, starting from 1947-48, 1965, 1971 and the 1999 Kargil War. Both countries were nearly at war in 2001-2002 after the terror attack on the Indian Parliament in December 2001. I was deployed on the borders, and I can say with personal experience that India would have given a severe beating to Pakistan in Operation Parakram, too.
But what is most surprising is that the Pakistan Army continued to have a total hold over the civil government even after losing all the wars and conflicts with India. There can be no major manufacturing defect than this in a country that continues to support its Army even after so many humiliating defeats. The icing on the cake is the grant of Field Marshal rank to General Asim Munir, the failed Army Chief of the Pakistan Army, after India’s precision strike on 26 military and terror locations during Operation Sindoor from 7-10 May. All this while, Pakistan has followed state-sponsored terrorism against India, an obsession which has ruined the country economically.
Pakistan always exploited its geo-strategic location to its advantage with the Americans, earlier to assist them to counter the Soviet communism influence. But it came on the wrong side of the US during its global war on terror. Pakistan continued with its double game of assisting the Islamic terror, the most glaring example being shelter to Osama bin Laden, the chief of al Qaeda. Osama had planned the September 11, 2001 terror attacks (9/11) in the US that left 3000 people dead. Osama was finally killed by the US special forces in May 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after 10 years of the 9/11 terror attacks. This should be the response to those who question why terrorists involved in the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April have not been neutralised so far.
Another fascinating account is of Pakistan becoming a nuclear power through covert means. In order to offset India’s overwhelming superiority over it in the conventional war domain, Pakistan acquired nuclear weapons through clandestine means by the year 1984. By carrying out nuclear explosions in May 1998, it officially became a nuclear weapons state, at par with India. Pakistan has not much scientific base, and thus, it is not surprising that Pakistan has been helped by countries like China and North Korea. Now the world at large is facing the danger and likely consequences of Tactical nuclear weapons, with Pakistan falling into the hands of jihadi elements.
It is interesting to understand the psychology of Pakistan as a country in recent times. It is facing a major insurgency in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sind has also been demanding a separate status, and thus, Pakistan as a country is highly fragmented. It is facing a major challenge from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, the same Taliban it nurtured against the Soviets and later against the Americans. POK has witnessed step-motherly treatment, and the people there are witnessing unprecedented development in J&K. The machine parts of Pakistan are making too much noise now.
I also pity the people of Pakistan. The country has been looted by the Pakistan Army, the rich and mighty from Punjab and the influential lot based in the UK and the US. The common man in Pakistan is under severe financial distress, with the economy having failed many times over. Pakistan has survived on loans and financial assistance from the IMF, World Bank, China, and Islamic countries. Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif is on record as admitting that Pakistan goes around the world with a begging bowl. There couldn’t be a bigger embarrassment to a country of about 25 crore population.
It is extremely difficult to deal with a country like Pakistan that has so many contradictions or manufacturing defects. After Operation Sindoor, Prime Minister Modi asked the people of Pakistan to realise the reality of enmity with India. PM Modi exhorted the people of Pakistan to see through the game of their rulers, which has jeopardised their destiny. At the government level, it is not easy to negotiate with Pakistan because of the multiple power centres in that country. The only solution lies in altering the power equation in Pakistan, where its military starts functioning under civilian rule, as it happens in India. Thus, the solution lies in a significant overhaul of the machine called Pakistan.
Jinnah passed away in September 1948, just a little more than a year after Pakistan became independent. Although he propounded the Two-Nation theory, he would not, in his wildest dreams, have visualised Pakistan becoming a country with so many defects and contradictions. General Asim Munir, Pakistan Army Chief’s statement on Islam and Kashmir on April 16 to assert the ‘superior Islamic ideology and culture over India’ comes from a fanatic Chief who has no regard for the well-being of his country. As a military professional, I sincerely hope that Pakistan as a whole sees the hopeless situation they are in. China may help them for a while, but it would come at a great cost.
India is a large-hearted big brother which can co-exist with a genuinely democratic Pakistan. The severe losses in Operation Sindoor should be a reminder to Pakistan that India has clearly defined the red lines on terror, nuclear blackmail and its overall security dynamics. Pakistan still has a chance to repair and replace its manufacturing defects. This may well be the last chance for Pakistan to make amends. Now, the ball is in Pakistan’s court to be a friendly neighbour to India.
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