iis came to strengthen our resolve and to set goals for the future.
After 75 years of riding roughshod over the rights and dignity of the people of Pakistan, the notoriety of the Pakistani ruling class, also known as the power elite or more generically as the establishment, was no longer a matter of doubt or dispute, and people were eager to learn what was my explanation of the malaise attended upon the Pakistani state and national project. Understandably, such discussions led to the key question: what can be done to prevent Pakistan from disintegrating under the dead weight of mounting international debt, rampant corruption, galloping inflation and the omissions and commissions of the Pakistani rich and powerful?
These are some of the Enlightenment ideas many post-colonial leaders, including Jinnah, liberally borrowed from Western civilisation. Jinnah was a constitutionalist in his training, profession and practical politics. It is unfortunate that every school of thought and political strand have attempted to interpret Jinnah to sell their own specific brand of politics and ideology. This is always true when it comes to great leaders in history because their popularity carries a heavy weight of argument on the side of conflicting political brands.
Pakistan lost track of Jinnah’s path even before it could walk any significant distance on it. The influence of mullahs, the weakening of Jinnah’s successors and the disintegration of the spirit of Pakistan brought into prominence leaders and political forces that had nothing to do with the founder’s vision. In less than a decade, bureaucratic-military leaders captured the state apparatus and reduced Jinnah merely to a symbolic portrait to hang behind their desks in offices.
No wonder, then, that the destiny of Pakistan over the decades has become disputed. The religious right demands an Islamic state, simply to capture power in the name of religion and do the same things the ‘moderate’ parties and leaders do. The ruling political establishment of Pakistan has used power as an opportunity to rob and run, leaving behind nothing but chaos, disorder, and finally, extremism and terrorism.
Pakistan can recover its lost vision. For this to happen, it will have to bring the corrupt, thoughtless political establishment within the bounds of law and accountability. That will be the new beginning.