Pakistan a Nation, Barely a State
By Dr. Ghulam M. Haniff
St. Cloud , MN
After sixty years of floundering under the leadership of mostly incompetents Pakistan has yet to emerge as a state capable of exerting centralized control over its territory. Recent events in Swat, Buner and Waziristan demonstrate that authority of the state is weak and in some places even absent. In the turmoil underway that unfortunate fact has become transparent to the global community.
According to scholars of political science “nation” refers to the community of people living in a country and “state” refers to the bureaucracy of a government through which authority is exercised. Nation-state is the formal term for sovereign, independent countries.
When spokespeople for the US Department of State, and occasional scholars as well, refer to the Pakistan as a “failed-state” what they mean is the inability of the government to exercise control over parts of its territory.
For Pakistan the country next door, India, clearly is a model for its state operations. India recently conducted transparent elections over the vastness of its territory and was commended for the task. As the largest democratic elections ever the world applauded thunderously. Manmohan Singh, a man of humble origin with a doctorate from Oxford, remained firmly in command as the state went through the crucial political exercise. He has, of course, guided the nation towards superpower status since he took office.
One cannot expect that type of capability from any politician in Pakistan at the moment. In fact Islamabad has just pleaded for an American team of experts to rescue its collapsing economy. Decades of mismanagement has failed to create a viable economic order though India’s productivity is thriving and growing by leaps and bounds at the rate of 8 percent per year. India has a vast pool of economists including international award winners, Jagdish Bhagwati and Amratya Sen, both multiple prize winners with the latter being a Nobel Laureate.
From the very early years intellectual talent has been in short supply in Pakistan owing to the neglect of educational opportunities created in part by malevolent policies of the past. However, the ruling elites have never failed to educate their sons abroad in the manner of Benazir Bhutto whose eldest child recently completed his degree at Oxford.
Pakistani media has pointed out that political leaders have largely been opportunists seeking to fatten their coffers at the state expense. With their fingers in the till these leaders seriously neglected the fundamental responsibility of building the state infrastructure and many other aspects of state institutional foundation.
Currently, the elite leaders represented in the National Assembly and in the provincial legislatures are compelled to take courses organized by USAID, an American agency. Otherwise, they would not be able to do the job for which they were elected. The course gives them an overview of the structure and functioning of the assemblies. In addition, they learn the mechanics of dealing with legislation, procedural rules, the committee system and their functions.
In reality the name “ Pakistan” is simply a geographic expression shown on the map of the world though without commensurate authority up to the boundaries drawn. Pakistan’s extractive capability, that is, the ability to collect taxes, for example, is limited, or to apprehend criminals. In the more remote regions people’s loyalty is to their tribes, and tribal laws takes precedence over the national ones.
There are vast areas in the Pakistani landscape where medieval lifestyle is the norm with virtual absence of modern education. Since the creation of the country the leaders have failed to bring these areas under the umbrella of the central state.
In contrast, the authority of the central government in most developed countries extends to the farthest reaches on its territory. Various agencies of the government are there discharging their responsibilities and so are the political leaders representing the area in the Parliament or the Congress.
No such activities occur in the Pakistani political system except occasionally and even then in bits and pieces.
Moreover, developed nations are also highly integrated through education, uniform values, military service and a system of communication. In contrast there is a high degree of social fragmentation in Pakistan.
Nation building, with an effective centralized authority, is not an easy task but requires several strategies to be pursued simultaneously. At the moment Pakistan is not even at the rudimentary stage in this task though some thinking has taken place to build infra-structure for the extension of the state authority.
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