Almost 11 years after Nelson Mandela’s death on December 5, 2013, his legacy survives in South Africa, as they invoked the ICJ’s jurisdiction against the barbaric genocide of Palestinians living in occupied Gaza. Described as an open concentration camp reminiscent of Auschwitz, the shift from Israel’s victim-hood mantra to it being “plausible for Palestinians in Gaza to claim protection from genocide” was achieved by South Africa.
Israel’s extremist Zionist regime has massacred over 26,000 in-nocent Palestinians, including women and children, with over 1.7 million displaced from their homes and 70% of their homes destroyed, whilst the US/UK etc justify this as Israel’s right of defence. In 1997, on the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinians, Mandela stated, “We know too well that our free-dom is incomplete, without freedom of the Palestinians”.
Con-tinuous indoctrination of young Jews in schools and colleges by Israel, in pursuance of Zionist Doctrine, based on their doctored version of events, has created visceral hatred for Palestinians, whom they consider “Human Animals” not worthy of basic hu-man rights. Mandela struggled for 30 years, enduring pain and suffering, inflicted by White Supremacist colonialists, who held power through brute force. Countries like South Africa which adopt the vision of their Father of the Nation, achieve interna-tional recognition and respect in the comity of nations.
If only Pakistan had chosen to adopt the vision of their Quaid, instead of experimenting with fate and destiny of millions, the chaos and economic hardships could have been avoided. We should be grateful to MAJ and pioneers of our freedom strug-gle, for giving us a country, where we can live and practice our faith without fear. MAJ struggled to create a modern democ-ratic welfare state for all citizens, with a Constitution as su-preme law, but remnants of British Raj legacy conspired to re-duce it to a welfare state for the elite. Most of them, who bene-fitted the most, chose to abandon this country and shifted to foreign states, “lock, stock and barrel”.
Pakistan faces grave challenges and an economic quagmire which threatens national security. Years of mis-governance and intrigues by mediocrity at the helm since 1953, have driven this country to the brink of bankruptcy. On our eastern border, we have a country, which on 22 January 2024, officially shed its secular image, and be-came an Autocratic Hindutva-dominated state. It has no qualms in its expression of bias to Muslims. PM Modi, kickstarted his 2024 election campaign by performing opening ceremony of Ram Mandir, which was built where Babri Mosque existed for almost 500 years. The challenges we face demand concerted efforts to rise up, with Jinnah’s motto of Unity, Faith and Disci-pline.
The Hindutva bias is as poisonous, as the hate inspired right wing Zionists of Israel. Not a single bullet was fired in the political and constitutional freedom movement for Pakistan.
There is no place for extremism or sectarian outfits with their militant units. The state alone must have exclusive monopoly over use of force, to protect it from foreign invaders, or to en-force rule of law and supremacy of the Constitution, when such an intervention is deemed necessary by civilian government as per law. For a country like Pakistan, created through a constitu-tional political struggle, it is ironic that violence has become a tool to exert political hegemony. What happened on 9th May 2023 was shocking. Those responsible in aiding and abetting this, along with those directly involved, must be dealt with sternly for alleged insurrection-like activities.
This was pre-ceded by 126-day siege of Islamabad in 2014, followed by the 2017 Faizabad Dharna that lasted from 8-November to 18-December. These sieges were ostensibly facilitated by rogue elements within sensitive institutions. Allowing extremists to form armed militias is a recipe for chaos and economic col-lapse. No state can function efficiently and develop or maintain its territorial sovereignty, unless it has a vibrant economy and invested in human resources development through education, health etc. The Father of the Nation realized that the dream of a modern democratic welfare state, which motivated masses to support the liberation struggle, could only be based on a consti-tution as supreme law.
Unfortunately, his vision was derailed through intrigues, by remnants of British Raj in 1953, who usurped power in 1958 and justified deriving power through the barrel of a gun. Earlier, immediately after Quaid’s demise, the working of First Constituent Assembly was deliberately de-layed, till such time in 1956 that a Constitution was adopted, and we finally became an independent republic, free from con-trol of our Colonial Masters. Before this, we remained a Domin-ion of the UK, ruled under Government of India Act 1935 which allowed them to interfere.
MAJ realized urgency to adopt a Constitution, as soon as possible, but this was not done. In 1958, when power was derived through the barrel of a gun, this set the stage for disruption of rule of law. Use of force, became a tool to perpetuate power and violence became a political tool to achieve ulterior motives. Resorting to violence, to destabilize a constitutionally-elected government, except through vote of no-confidence should never be allowed to occur.
The pioneers of our freedom struggle would never have al-lowed the emergence of sectarian parties with armed militias, because it is a recipe for disaster. A few such sectarian extrem-ists are involved in cross-border incursion along our border in Iran. In 1959, an angry Baloch, Sardar Nauroz Khan, who had gone to the hills, agreed to surrender, on assurances given on the pledge of the Holy Quran, to give up arms.
A tin-pot dicta-tor chose to betray the pledge, and instead prosecuted them for insurgency. Such trigger-happy dictators have only harmed Pakistan. The State must resolve all such issues politically, not through use of force. Peaceful protests led by a Baloch lady seeking justice for missing people, deserved to be dealt with compassion and empathy.
Her protest in Islamabad was legiti-mate. However, there should be Zero-Tolerance for any group that threatens the State with force. Clemency must be given to those who lay down arms. Pledges given by the State must never be broken. Laws must prevail over the whims of indi-viduals and groups, however, powerful they may be.
—The writer is contributing columnist, based in Lahore.
Email: [email protected]
