Quotes About Pakistan

General Iskander Mirza had shared with the high commissioner the view that democracy was unsuited to a country like Pakistan, even as plans were publicly laid out for general elections. The high commissioner reported that the president had told him of his intention to intervene "if the election returns showed that a post-electoral government was likely to be dominated by undesirable elements.

India, which became independent along with Pakistan in 1947, agreed on a constitution in 1949 and held its first general election in 1951. Pakistan's first constitution was not promulgated until 1956, and within two years it was abrogated through a military coup d'état.

Contrary to what Pakistani children are taught in schools, the Islamic ideology currently in vogue in Pakistan did not give birth to the country; it was born after Pakistan's creation in its present form.

Beginning with Liaquat, moving forward with Ayub Khan and culminating with Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan's leaders proceeded to delineate a 'noble and eternal' ideology that would give Pakistan 'a tremendous power of cohesion and resistance', insisting that it was on the basis of Islam 'that we fought for and got Pakistan'. Islam, hostility to India, and the Urdu language were identified as the cornerstones of this new national ideology.

The traditional ulema and Islamists used the environment of jihad to advance their own agenda, and one agenda item was that they should be accepted as custodians of Pakistan's ideology and identity. After the war, several state-sponsored publications were devoted to building the case that one Muslim soldier had the fighting prowess to subdue five Hindus.

After the loss of its eastern wing, which became Bangladesh in 1971, Pakistan has been completely dominated by one ethnic group, the Punjabis, who tend to favour the ideological model for Pakistan and are heavily represented in the military, the media and the bureaucracy.

No one who is a friend of Pakistan must say anything that harms its reputation; anyone who dares to ask tough questions or make adverse remarks must be prepared to be categorized as Pakistan's enemy.

Pakistan's young median age today means that an overwhelming majority of its current inhabitants were born in a country called Pakistan and, therefore, do not need an explanation other than their birth to be its citizens.

Pakistan's unfortunate history may justify the description of Pakistan as being 'insufficiently imagined', but imagination is by definition not a finite process. An entity that is insufficiently imagined can be reimagined

Unlike other countries, where the apex court is only the court of final appeal in criminal matters, Pakistan's Supreme Court acts politically to directly make pronouncements in response to media articles or petitions by political rivals. One need not be convicted of disloyalty to the state after due process of law when innuendo, fabricated media reports and public comments by Supreme Court judges can suffice to tarnish reputations and cut public support.

International assistance, especially from the United States and some from China and Saudi Arabia, has brought Pakistan back from the brink in the past. But rising xenophobia and Islamo-nationalism— exhibited prominently after the discovery of Osama bin Laden in a Pakistani garrison town—coupled with Pakistan's policies in Afghanistan make continued US support for Pakistan difficult.

The collective wisdom in Pakistan seems to be that nothing in Pakistan's predicament is the result of wrong policy choices made by its leaders and that the only thing Pakistanis need to do is to fend off discussion of the negatives, rather than attend to the negatives themselves.

It was ironic that even in promising to end aid dependence, Pakistan's leaders sought trade on easier terms instead of retooling their economy to expand trade as many other countries have been able to do.

Pakistanis must figure out why India, which inherited similar institutions from the British Raj, maintained democracy consistently after Independence while Pakistan could not. They should also examine how Bangladesh has been able to expand its economy while reducing its population after breaking off from Pakistan.

Independent observers believe that the Pakistan Army killed between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand Bengalis in a nine-month period, whereas Bangladesh puts the figure at three million.

For sixteen years since 9/11, Pakistan has aided the American forces in Afghanistan by providing logistical support while providing a haven to their enemies at the same time. As a result of this dichotomy, some factions of Taliban have turned on Pakistan and attacked Pakistani civilian as well as military targets. Pakistan has lost America's trust as American critics accuse Pakistan of acting as arsonist and firefighter in Afghanistan at the same time.

According to the account of a British diplomat, Liaquat had to respond seriously to a California businessman who asked him at a luncheon 'whether the blank space between the two parts of Pakistan as shown on the menu card was Africa'.1

the ideology of Pakistan that has been fostered in the past seventy years has had two major consequences. First, it opened the door for endless debates and schisms around Islam that prevent discussion of more pressing and practical governance issues; second, it conflated an Islamic Pakistani nationalism with anti-Indianism, putting Pakistan in foreign and national security policy straitjacket.

Although much thought might not have gone into creating the separate state of Pakistan, considerable effort was now expended on defining, justifying, and protecting it.

During Pakistan's formative years, however, pan-Islamism was more important for Pakistan's efforts to consolidate its national identity than as the main-stay of its foreign policy.

Pakistan views itself as a strategically located country needed by the world's major powers and as home to descendants of mighty Muslim warriors. This view of the self, coupled with the dominance of a narrow elite, accounts for Pakistan's inability to address its periodic economic crises.

In one way, it was. After the 'Objectives Resolution' there was no turning back from Pakistan's status as an Islamic ideological state.

The military is Pakistan's only institution inherited from the British Raj that has proved resilient and effective. 'As the history of law, democracy, administration and education in Pakistan demonstrates, other British institutions in what is now Pakistan (and to a lesser extent India as well) failed to take root, failed to work, or have been transformed in ways that their authors would scarcely have recognized.

If there were lessons to be learnt from the East Pakistan/ Bangladesh fiasco, Pakistan's civil and military leaders did not learn them. Instead of recognizing the inadequacy of the two nation theory, religious ideology and brute force in keeping the country together, the break-up was rationalized as the result of Indian hostility, malfeasance of Pakistani politicians, and the geographic remoteness of the eastern wing.