Pakistan and Asim Munir’s Helpless Roar

Last month marked the 85th anniversary of the Lahore Resolution, the event that marked the launch of the Two Nation theory that ultimately led to the Partition of India. Yesterday, General Asim Munir, Pakistan’s chief of army staff, refreshed the memory of that event once again.

The speech by Gen Munir—at the Overseas Pakistani Convention in Islamabad—should not provoke Indians. There is no reason for that. Instead, it should serve a reminder about the futility and dangers inherent in the quest for peace at any cost with a recalcitrant neighbour, a neighbour that continues to harbour atavistic political goals based on a theory propounded 85 years ago. The basis for that theory—that Muslims and Hindus were two distinct nations—served its purpose. But beyond that claim, it did not yield Pakistan anything except a quixotic quest for parity in everything with India, including nuclear weapons. 

In his speech, Munir—who is also a Hafiz, a scholar of Islam—told his audience that “You have to narrate Pakistan’s story to your children so that they don’t forget it when our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life.”

He further added that, “Our religion is different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different, that’s where the foundation of the two-nation theory was laid. We are two nations, we are not one nation.”

BALOCHISTAN

Were the speech to be made by a cleric in Muridke or in Akora Khattak or many other locations in Pakistan, it would be par for the course. In a society soaked in religious radicalism, such things are normal. But an army chief making such a speech merits attention and one should look for rational reasons behind the sudden rabid outburst.

One does not have to search too hard. Pakistan is a beleaguered country. In Balochistan and to a lesser extent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the writ of the Pakistani state is being challenged almost daily. 

Some time back Maulana Fazlur Rahman, an influential cleric and a Member of the National Assembly said in a speech that Pakistan jad lost control of Balochistan. Perhaps that was an exaggeration as the army continues to control that restive province. But it is a very tenuous control. From Quetta to Gwadar and from Taftan to Khuzdar, not a day passes without an “incident” in Balochistan. To make matters worse, Pakistan now faces non-violent protests for rights led by independent activists like Mahrang Baloch—who is currently in custody—as well as marches by established politicians like Akhtar Mengal. 

Gen Munir’s outburst is as much a response to this difficult situation as it is about the frustration and helplessness at the turn of events. This “hard state” vision, and if one may say, fantasy, has led to adverse outcomes on an earlier occasion for Pakistan. It has not recovered from that event psychologically. But it has not learnt anything from it either.

FOR INDIA

The moral of the story for India is simple: stop fantasising that the two countries are peopled by long lost cousins and that “give and take” can lead to bonhomie. There is nothing more fatal than self abnegation of national interests. There will, of course, always be people who harbour such fantasies in India for that is the nature of a noisy democracy. But the government of the day and reasonable people should ignore such ideas. Best to leave Pakistan alone in its misery.

BalochistanIndia-Pakistan relationsJinnahPakistan ArmyPakistan’s army chief Asim MunirTwo-Nation TheoryWeb Exclusive