“Yes, Pakistan may be a failed state, so what?” said Naveed. “I don’t care if my country is a failed state or not but I do care who is behind its failures. They’re the ones I blame for failing my country.”

It’s been more than a year since I last saw my friend. He went back to his country soon after completing his Masters degree in Business Administration. When leaving for home, his mood was an eerie mixture of optimism and caution. “I’m confident that things will finally change in my country,” he said before boarding the flight. I remember his confident words but can’t forget the empty smile on his face. Now, it seems, it requires more than confident words and smiles to live in a country where optimism and pessimism are flip sides of the same coin.

“Pakistan is a country where failure is rewarded. We like to live in a state of denial.  We often believe that we have never been wrong or can be wrong. In the process we make many excuses to justify our actions.”

Lamentable History

“Moign, to understand my ‘lecture,’ as you put it, you have to understand the history of the country,” Naveed said jokingly. It seemed that he was once again enjoying the argumentative chats that we used to have in our free time while living together in student accommodation. Nothing seems to have changed since then.

Pakistan has a long history of foreign interference before there was any kind of lawlessness, unemployment, corruption, civil mismanagement, or army intervention in the country. Soon after its birth in 1947 as a result of blood strewn partition carried out by the imperial British, the infant state had to pick a master that would act as a caretaker of the country’s policies and safeguard its interests. The masters at that time were the USSR and the USA. The country’s first Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan embraced the latter. And the results of this ‘embrace’, as promised, were magical.

During the 1950s and 60s, the new Pakistani master taught its new satellite state to be wary of two things – communism and grass-root democracy. As a result, the rulers of Pakistan always kept the two ‘viruses’ in check. Thousands of workers suspected of communist sympathies were put behind the bars and a general election was ruled out in favor of a ’sustained democracy’ that was ‘compatible with country’s Islamic and social values’. Both the approaches had a devastating affect on the country’s democratic identity and politico-economic activities.

Washington, the ‘torch-bearer of democracy’ and ‘leader of the free world’, never raised an eyebrow when a military coup in 1958 overthrew the civilian administration in then Pakistani capital city of Karachi. Instead, new accords of friendship and military partnership were signed that gave the Americans access to the USSR backyard for the first time. The US military soon stationed U2 bombers in the country to keep an eye on Soviet activities in Central Asia. The shooting down of one of its U2 in Soviet skies on 1 May 1960 by USSR surface-to-air missiles was one glaring example of Pakistani soil being used by the US for military gains.

“This was the first time we pleased our masters and had bit of a misadventure,” a bitter Naveed remarked.

Obsession of the Society

“Islam, it seems to me, is a blanket term that defines our ambitions and justifies each and every deed performed in our political and social life. From politicians to common man, everyone has his or her own idea of Islam and chart their plans accordingly,” a rather sarcastic Naveed commented.

I wonder how wrong the country’s history can prove him. Pakistan was created in the name of Islam with the founding leaders promising no room for ethnic partisanship and discrimination. But that’s not what really happened. The country witnessed its first bout of instability in 1952 when Bengali was stripped of its national language status despite the fact that it was spoken by more than half of the country’s population. The imposition of Urdu as the sole national language was seen as an imperial move that triggered riots across the eastern half of the newborn state. This was the first time the seeds of ethnic divide were sown in the newly cultivated field of Pakistan.

“Pakistani army fought the Indian army in 1965 when its covert military operations in Indian-controlled Jammu & Kashmir backfired and New Delhi invaded our country to teach a lesson. For the first time we raised the flag of Jihad against an occupying power and the then (military) rulers drummed up massive support – all in the name of Islam,” Naveed explained while referring to his course textbooks. He added that this is the official textbook version of Pakistani history and not necessarily his.

“From this time on, we have never looked back on the idea of our army as the vanguard of Islam and we, as a nation, as the righteous people.”

Heads and Tails

“The situation got more interesting in 1970 after the first ever free and fair general elections for a parliament were held in both wings of Pakistan–East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and West Pakistan (now Pakistan),” Naveed described while explaining the Bengali separatist movement of 1971.

The majority Bengali ethnic group complained of being sidelined by the minority Punjabis that dominated the civil service and the military. They also accused West Pakistan of usurping the resources of East Pakistan and exploiting them. Statistically, they weren’t wrong as exporting jute produced in East Pakistan generated most of the Pakistan’s revenues. Yet East Pakistanis suffered under grinding poverty.

“I think that was the first time we said: ‘Heads or tails, both flips of the coin are ours, hence we win the toss,’” he said while referring to an Urdu proverb that has a similar connotation.

A military operation was waged against Awami League, the party that was demanding more autonomy for the Bengali-dominated East Pakistan and a fair distribution of resources between both the entities of Pakistani federation. Though winning a clear majority in 1970 elections, Awami League’s leader Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman was denied the transfer of power and was instead arrested and tried for treason.

Disgruntled East Pakistanis took up arms against the powerful Punjabi-dominated Pakistani Army. A bloody civil war broke out in the eastern wing of Pakistan that saw the army, along with its pro-Islamic paramilitary groups, attempting to crush the separatist movement. Bengali separatists, thanks to the active support from India, soon weakened the grip of Pakistani army on the eastern territory. The nine-month long bloody movement witnessed countless massacres of innocent people and wanton destruction of property and infrastructure. The people’s power superseded the military might and Pakistani army surrendered to Bengali insurgents and their principal backers – the Indian army.

“This is how we learnt the lesson. Or shall I say, this is how we are taught at school.”

“We are told: This all happened due to some miscreants that created mistrust between us (Pakistanis) and Bengalis (Bangladeshis). India wanted to extract revenge and dismember us. But thanks to our valiant Islamic army we did not let that happen. We succeeded in keeping our western flank intact while giving our Bengali brothers the right to freedom,” said Naveed while quoting his history textbook. His tone didn’t seem convincing to me but I let him continue rather than dispute the textbook version.

Happy Master

Pakistan’s chief ally, the United States of America, did not practically intervene in the conflict. However, Islamabad enjoyed its tacit approval throughout the conflict. The USS Enterprise was dispatched to the Bay of Bengal in 1971 to boost the morale of its ally in the region. The hue and cry raised by human rights groups over genocides committed by the Pakistani army were silenced by a steady supply of military hardware and ammunition by the USA.

“The public was in shock when the news of Pakistani army surrendering to Indian army and their Bengali allied forces was broken to them. Everyone couldn’t believe on their eyes that how their army, strengthened by the spirit of Jihad, was defeated by the Indian army and their ‘Bengali mercenaries’. At least this is what was fed to them during the 1971 conflict,” said Naveed insisting that people for the first time became wary of Pakistani army’s alliance with the US army and lost their faith in military as an institution.

“The surrender of a combined 94,000 Pakistani military and paramilitary personnel was not a joke,” he added while referring to the fall of Dhaka on 16 December 1971. “All the architects of this humiliation got away with their crimes and were never brought to justice. The public felt betrayed by their own guardians,” he said while referring to the fact that though a formal inquiry of the war was conducted the main players of the debacle never got punished.

Holy Alliance

After a brief civilian rule from 1972 to 1977, military regime returned from the barracks to instigate a coup d’état. Under a complete agreement with the US, Pakistani military chief General Zia-ul-Haq overthrew Pakistan’s first democratically elected civilian leader Zulfiqar Bhutto and later hanged him on charges of treason and murder.

“While other murder cases drag on for years and years, Mr. Bhutto’s executed within five months. Look how swift our government reacts sometimes,” Naveed said with irony clear in his tone. “Lawlessness, vigilantism, parallel courts, police heavy-handedness and extra-judicial killings along with many other problems stem from the dilapidated justice system of Pakistan,” the young academic added.

Afghanistan was invaded by the USSR in December 1979 soon after General Zia took the reigns of the government. The Soviet invasion not only rang bells in Islamabad, it also stirred unease in Washington, DC. With Vietnam War humiliation in mind, the Americans seized on the opportunity to drag the Soviets into a long, bloody war that would deplete their power and leave them economically and militarily drained and exhausted.

Bureaucrats under the command of then US Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski initiated a plan that started the training of Afghan insurgents by the CIA months before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan itself.

“The US struck a holy alliance with the anti-Soviet insurgents who called themselves ‘mujahideen’ – the ones waging Jihad in the name of God – to bleed the USSR army to death in Afghanistan and seek revenge for role in the Vietnam defeat. To me this was the height of hypocrisy demonstrated by both the sides,” Naveed blasted.

“The capitalist Americans and Islamists in the Middle East and South Asia never saw eye to eye on any issue and always regarded each other as adversaries yet they struck an alliance against communism. What a historic alliance it was!”

Army, Inc.

While the world’s attention was set on the war in Afghanistan, General Zia-ul-Haq’s autocratic regime throttled the voices of reform and democracy in the country at the behest of his ‘Islamic agenda’. During his 11 years in power, the country never had free and fair democratic elections and the army, in connivance with the so-called Islamist forces, ruled with an iron fist. At this time, all important civil institutions like the judiciary, election commission, press, bureaucracy, and foreign service came under direct military control, and the army’s role in the country’s day to day affairs changed from an institution to a corporation.

The army initiated schemes for banking, insurance, heavy industries, housing, aviation, education, security firms, farms, and food production and soon became the country’s biggest enterprise. This in turn weakened private businesses that stood no chance to compete with the military backed business concerns due to its growing political and economic clout. Civil institutions also suffered a direct blow and languished due to deliberate neglect and apathy, partly due to political strife in the country.

General Zia-ul-Haq died in a mysterious plane crash along with an American general on 17 August 1988. The country returned to civilian rule after 11 years of military in power but little changed on the ground. The army, instead of returning to the barracks, realigned itself and started interfering in the politics by supporting its favorite political candidates.

Naveed agrees with the view that Pakistan’s problems are not the result of a few years of mismanagement and chaos. “The crises have been brewing since the military eclipsed the civilian institutions and democracy was wound up in favor of a martial law in 1958,” the 26-year-old Pakistani graduate said lamenting the fact that army’s role was only strengthened by the Americans. “We have never seen them (Americans) flaying military intervention in our politics. This is the mockery of democracy by any standards.”

“So what are the reasons behind the insurgency in the tribal regions of Pakistan including the latest bloodshed in Swat valley? What went so wrong that led the country to the brink of failure and labeled as a failed state?” I asked Naveed impromptu. Naveed, totally baffled by the complex nature of my questions, took me out for a walk. “Is it OK if I answer your questions in the open air? I need to breathe some fresh air,” he asked. I nodded and made a quick exit with him.

Why is the insurgency raging in many parts of Pakistan? Born in the tribal areas, whom will he blame for the deaths of innocent lives and suffering of millions of people? I kept on walking in the chilly evening wondering what he was going to say about the ground realities.

Isolation and Indifference

“The British did little to interfere in our lives and gave us the freedom to have our own code which we call the ‘jirga’ [assembly of tribal elders] that defines laws, regulations and policies. Soon after the independence, we joined Pakistan on certain preconditions. One of them was to have our own jirga system,” Naveed said, adding that Pakistani courts and law enforcement have no jurisdiction over the tribal areas known as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

FATA is an interesting region of Pakistan. It covers an area of 27,220 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 3.5 million. Pashtuns comprise the overwhelming majority of the population with a few ethnic Hazaras, Sikhs, and Punjabis living alongside. The literacy rate is barely 10%, well below the national average of 40%. It is an under-developed area with few paved roads and limited gas and electricity supply. The locals do not pay tax to the state. With only seven percent of the land area cultivatable, people make a livelihood by smuggling custom-free goods from Afghanistan, operating car theft rackets, drug trafficking, and selling locally produced illegal small and heavy arms.

The Pakistani government seldom intervenes in the tribal affairs. A government appointed political agent called ‘Malik’ represents the federation with few executive powers. FATA is however represented in the National Assembly in Islamabad. Unelected tribal elders represented the region until the system was changed in 1997 to introduce mandatory elections. However, little has changed as the elections are contested on tribal rather than political lines.

“This whole region is in a limbo. It is part of Pakistan but at the same time it is not. Confused aren’t you?” a sarcastic Naveed remarked, seeing my puzzled face. “Thanks to our tribal elders’ wishes, the government never incorporated us into mainstream Pakistan. There always remained a divide between the settled and tribal areas that local leaders as well as Islamabad exploited for their own gains. We are the Pakistani version of America’s Wild West,” he joked in his patent ironic tone.

The dynamics of this tribal society are now unravelling. Due to the fact that this region never became part of the mainstream Pakistani society, the allegiance of the people is toward their tribes or clans rather than their country. The idea of nationalism has remained confined to the boundaries of the tribal regions spread across Pakistan and Afghanistan. Although they are counted as part of the Pakistani population and their areas shown on the map as part of federal Pakistan, the state has failed to win the Pashtun hearts and minds in order to include them in the wider Pakistani society.

“The people in the province, especially in the tribal areas, felt the isolation. Politicians, time and again, made promises to bring them into the mainstream and grant a comprehensive political and judicial system. From Bhutto to his daughter Benazir and from General Zia-ul-Haq to his stalwart Nawaz Sharif, everyone made promises. Empty promises. Things hardly changed on the ground,” Naveed remarked. “Does a promise remain a promise if unfulfilled?” he argued, referencing an Urdu proverb.

Returns of the Holy Alliance

The outbreak of a guerrilla war in Afghanistan is a turning point in the history of Pakistan. In 1980, Pakistani military dictator Gen. Zia-ul-Haq setup an alliance with the United States to send fighters across the border to aid the Afghan resistance against the Soviet-backed government in Kabul. The joint Pakistani-US investment of arms and fighters radically altered the course of war in Afghanistan, drawing the Soviet troops into a long, bloody conflict that ultimately left them defeated and contributed to the collapse of the USSR.

But the Pakistani-US alliance brought a host of problems to the region, especially Pakistan. The tribal areas, acting as a launching pad for anti-Soviet fighters known as the ‘mujahedeen’, became a den of illegal arms, drugs, and smuggling. Millions of people from Afghanistan sought refuge in Pakistan, straining the already limited resources of their hosts. The impoverished refugees from Afghanistan at times clashed with the people of Pakistan due to cultural, religious, and lifestyle differences. People still resent the military government of General Zia over his handling of the Afghan crisis.

The area that was touched most by the conflict was the North-west Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. Naveed described the post-war situation. “The mujahideen returned to their homes. The government had no rehabilitation plan for them. Frustration rose tremendously and their warfare experience gave them the confidence to lift their arms and fight for their rights.” He added that veterans of the Afghan war returned home to Pakistan along with their comrades from the Middle East, Central Asia, and North Africa.

“Most of the non-Afghan fighters were exiles from their home countries who could no longer return to their states. Many of their home governments feared a rebellion from their ranks and labelled them as unwanted elements. The only people who welcomed them were the Pashtuns, as we have an ancient code of hospitality and generosity for someone who asks for protection and refuge,” Naveed explained with evident pride.

While the USSR withdrew from Afghanistan humiliated and defeated, the U.S. revelled with joy. Afghanistan was abandoned, as the U.S. interest was limited to the defeat of its nuclear rival rather than rebuilding the nation. Former mujahedeen turned their guns on each other and a full-scale civil war ensued. Thousands of people died during the conflict from 1992-1996. The only forces that stopped the civil war were the Taliban, who drove the warring former mujahedeen factions from power and seized control of 90 percent of the country.

Hostilities at Home

“The former mujahedeen who returned from Afghanistan demanded a judicial system based on their own interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law, and Pashtun culture and traditions. It was a simple demand that was raised to deal with the complex law and order situation in their region,” the young academic explained, adding that the local people were very enthusiastic about such demands. “Everybody, including the former mujahedeen, wanted it. The government, instead of principally agreeing to their demand and holding a referendum to decide the issue, sent troops and tanks to the region. People did not get what they really wanted,” he remarked with bitterness.

In 1994, a bloody conflict erupted in the Malakand division of NWFP province. Veterans of the Afghan war formed a militia called ‘Tehrik Nifaz Shariat Muhammadi’ (TNSM, or Movement for the Imposition of Muhammad’s Shariah law) and started an armed uprising in the region. Government buildings in the region were attacked and occupied in November 1994. The Islamabad government led by Benazir Bhutto initially signing a peace agreement with the militants, but backed off under international pressure and waged a military operation. The TNSM militants were flushed out to the hills and calm was restored. However, the situation on the ground remained the same and no judicial reforms were introduced to speed up the delivery of justice. The demand for a timesaving and cost-effective judicial system remained unheard further infuriating the masses.

Hundreds of people lost their lives in the bloody conflict between the TNSM militants and Pakistani armed forces from November 1994 until early 1996. Thousands of people also left their homes in the region due to the conflict.

“The government’s short-sighted and half-baked measures exacerbated the situation. It waged an armed operation against the group but forged an alliance with the leadership. The head of TNSM, Maulana Sufi Muhammad,  was captured by the army but was released without any charges. I do not understand the logic of a military operation that ends up with the signing of a peace deal and distribution of sweets,” the 26 year old said while mentioning the local practice of distributing sweets on the eve of a festive ceremony. “They sit side-by-side adorning each other with garlands while people mourn over their losses and bury their dead. Is this justice?”

According to a statement issued on May 3, 2001 by the NWFP provincial governor Owais Ghani, criminals and assorted illegal arms, timber, and drug mafias provided financial support to the TNSM and under their rule their activities flourished. TNSM strictly denies these allegations.

The Shariah movement returned to the political scene in the region with a vengeance soon after the 9/11 attacks in the USA. While U.S. President George W. Bush was envisioning plans to invade Afghanistan and topple the Taliban government in Kabul, the former mujahedeen in Pakistan were renewing their vows for a jihad and promising a new war against the USA along the same lines of struggle against the Soviet Union.

Soon after the US forces invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001, TNSM was the first pro-Taliban group to send its forces to fight alongside the Taliban. Thousands of fighters crossed into Afghanistan along with their leader Maulana Sufi Muhammad. The TNSM fighters returned to their bases after the Taliban retreated from urban Afghanistan to their rural strongholds to initiate a guerrilla war against the occupying U.S. and NATO forces. Leaders of TNSM were arrested by Islamabad after their return in 2002 and imprisoned on charges of incitement of violence and violation of state laws. President General Pervez Musharraf outlawed the organisation in 2002.

“The cat and mouse game between TNSM and Pakistani military continued. The Pakistani government enjoyed the support of Washington while TNSM were bolstered by the inclusion of al-Qaeda elements in its ranks. The government signed a peace deal on one day and initiated an armed operation against the opposite side the very next day,” Naveed uttered angrily.

“Nothing changed on the ground except that the situation got out of control and the militants got bolder with their tactics. Pakistani military attacked militant positions on the ground. They also hit their hideouts from the air with the help of Cobra gunship helicopters given by the U.S.

“As if this was not enough to wreak havoc, the U.S. drones unleashed hell from the skies, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. Thousands of people have been caught in the crossfire with no place to run and nowhere to hide. I’ve seen the carnage myself. Was this all for peace?”

Stocky-built Naveed came to an abrupt halt. His voice was shaky and he didn’t want to continue anymore. Having lived for more than a year with him I never saw Naveed so silent before. The rage was in his voice but he silenced himself. The aggression was in his hands but he unclenched his fists and stood still.

As we were having this chat on a rainy spring evening, thousands of internally displaced refugees in Swat valley in northwest Pakistan were lying in the open without any shelter. There is an acute shortage of food in the refugee camps, I’m told. But one thing is very certain. There is no shortage of ammunition on either side in the conflict.

The radical Islamists impose their style of governance in the name of religion and carry out their harsh sentences against poor and powerless people. The Islamabad government with the aid of the U.S. government bombs and maims its own people by using tanks and fighter planes in a bid to please its master. And the poor and powerless people, suppressed by the militants and oppressed by the government, run to save their lives. Where is the democratic promise of liberty, fraternity, and equality? Why don’t I see the Islamic spirit of forgiveness, compassion, and justice? Perhaps, both the sides are only interested in furthering their agenda and exploiting their subjects in the name of their ideologies. Meanwhile, those caught in the middle are made to pay a high price; the conflict continues often at the cost of innocent lives.