By: DR FAROOQ HASSAN

August Monday, 20, 2007

When Pakistan’s history is being written objectively there is little doubt that it would signify one of the most remorseless power tussles between the civilian and military rulers on the one hand, and the secular and religious forces on the other.
As such as the country reaches it 60th birthday this week, it is not only generally counted amongst ‘failed states’, substantively the country has been unable to become a democracy, a theocracy or an ideological republic as its history and the Constitution proudly claims. What we do witness is the emergence of an insatiable desire within the top echelon of the establishment with a ceaseless whim to transform and keep the country under permanent military rule.

A non-elected authoritarianism is inherently not acceptable in the contemporary world. But we have in this country an echo of a song in which all our military rulers, Ayub Khan, Yahya, Zia and now Musharraf have consistently contributed their tunes; that unity of command is a good idea and that political leadership is corrupt and avaricious. We are also told to accept unhesitatingly the further innuendo that this military format leads to “stability” in the country. I am afraid both these hypotheses are false and nothing could be far from the truth! Today this nation is more divided and agitated against their prevalent political system and rulers in particular than in its entire previous history with bombs and blasts becoming a daily occurrence.

Read the whole column here.

Dr. Farooq Hassan, D.Phil.;
BA (Juris),MA,M. LiTT (OXON);
DCL (Columbia),DIA(Harvard);
Sen.Adv.Sup.Ct. (Pakistan),
Barrister at Law (UK),Attorney at Law(US).

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