Pakistan’s National Stability and Integrity: Five Circles

Following are the excerpts from the speech of Maulana Zahid ur Rashidi at Istahkam-e-Pakistan Seminar held by Markazi Ulema Council of Pakistan

on Jan 19, 2024. The topic of discussion was the integrity and stability of Pakistan from the lens of five relevant circles with a sense of obligations and imperatives under prevailing circumstances.

❶ The first circle comprises ideological character, cultural distinctiveness, and Islamic identity as the basic purpose of the creation of Pakistan. This first circle is not just threatened but is currently under heavy fire. All over the world and within the country there is a lobbying activity to this end. Both international secular lobby and similar elements inside Pakistan are completely organized to snatch away the Islamic ideological identity and cultural basis of Pakistan. I have not seen the secular entity so much organized and cohesive with continuous efforts in the last 50 years as it is today.

❷ The second circle is the territorial integrity of Pakistan that involves three points. First, the geography of Pakistan is still incomplete unless the occupied Kashmir is brought back as the part and parcel in full sense. The geographical boundary determined on the Pakistan movement that proposed the name of Pakistan is still incomplete without Kashmir, and shall stay as such unless Kashmir is gained back. Second, we should never forget that on the front of geographical integrity we have already faced defeat in 1970-71. The nation got divided in two parts and we could not defend our national integrity in whatever shape we originally inherited. We experienced the first jolt then and now we are waiting for the second one. The conditions are being laid out to trigger the second tragedy of the same order against which we seek Allah’s mercy. To this end, we all need awareness on why Pakistan got divided and what factors and characters caused the mishap. The national document of Hamud-ur-Rehman report is on record to explain the mishap. I would appeal to all institutions and stakeholders, social segments, political leadership, and religious leaders to thoroughly study the report as to what blunders of ours caused the division of the nation into two parts. We need introspection if we are not committing the same mistakes over again. As we speak, our geographical integrity is challenged; we experienced a big jolt in the past and preparations for the next one are in the making. So, there is a need to understand the factors that broke apart our geographical integrity in the past. The Hamud-ur-Rehman Commission report could provide us an opportunity to look back on events and factors again to learn from our historical mistakes.

❸ The third circle is the national unity of Pakistan. The first critical element in this circle is the social and ethnic integrity. This demands the unity of all racial, social and ethnic diversities that exist in Pakistan such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashtun, Saraiki, Baluchi, etc. The ethnic integrity in Pakistan is especially under target, and the intensity is increasing day by day. The second element is linguistic integrity. Since independence till today, we are still short to enforce Urdu as the national language. Throughout the country, English or regional languages are prevalent in all official transactions. The need and importance of regional languages cannot be ruled out but Urdu is the established constitutional national language of Pakistan. Specifically, Urdu was determined by Quaid-e-Azam as the official state language cohesive enough to unify the entire nation. Despite above, Urdu is yet to be fully enforced in our state offices. The third element is the sectarian integrity, involving shia, sunni (deobandi, barailvi), etc., as of prime importance to bringing sectarian harmony within all religious groups. The fourth element comprises regional integrity of communities that is critical to the larger national integrity and stability. This needs to be highlighted that no particular sect, language, ethnic group, or region could undermine the existence of other groups. As a nation, we need to create cohesion and balance for mutual existence as our primal responsibility.

❹ The fourth circle is our national sovereignty. Pakistan needs to get out of the dictation of the Western powers in order to appoint its political and institutional leaders. The country needs to break apart from the hegemony of IMF, World Bank and other global organizations and nations. We need to get back our political and economic autonomy that we lost to the external entities. Currently, our economic control is not in our hands; we are like a puppet moving along with the deft fingers of the puppeteer.

❺ The fifth circle is the regional status and importance of Pakistan in South Asia. We, the Muslims, have ruled for 1200 years and earn a rightful place in this region. We have the backing of a strong historical ideological and cultural identity as a regional power in South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma). The muslims have yet to play their significant role and contribution to this region. Our leadership role during 1857 was taken away, and since then we have been unable to regain the power status. But at least in the shape of Pakistan we reclaimed the title to some degree, and now we are being cornered again at the regional level. Today, the agenda of the international powers is to inflict the hegemony of India in South Asia. This means threatening to rob away the Islamic ideology, Muslim identity, and our historical role and importance in this region. The attack is coming from all sides—West, East, North and South—to put Pakistan and its Islamic foundation under complete domination.

In conclusion, we need to be vigilant in all 5 circles mentioned above. It is the key responsibility of Ulema-e-Kiram in Pakistan, first to do whatever in guarding the ideological identity and national integrity. Next, we need to help and support our state institutions, and not just that we also need to guide them in policy making and managing future implications. In the end, it is a duty upon us all to identify and warn the state and nation against looming issues and threats to avoid another Hamud-ur-Rehman Commission.

I would end with Alhamdulillah as the alertness and awareness are all present among our people and Ulema, although there is a gap of positive networking and organized efforts. May Allah provide us with blessings to bring strength, stability, and sustainability to the Islamic Democratic Pakistan in the map of the world.

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Prof. Muhammad Imran Hameed works as Assistant Professor at Air University, Islamabad. He teaches the subject areas of Management with an interest in national and global politics and its impact upon business environment.