Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan “May God save Pakistan.” These were the last words of Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, as he lay dying from an assassin's bullet in October 1951. As Pakistanis celebrate Republic Day on March 23 they should remember his words and pledge to save their country. It lost its eastern wing in 1971. What remains is in jeopardy with thousands killed in North Waziristan and Baluchistan, extremists targeting religious minorities, criminals killing and robbing innocent people and lawlessness, corruption and self-serving people ravaging the country. At one time South Korea admired Pakistan's progress and sought to emulate it. Today Pakistan can learn from South Korea, China and Vietnam. In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. The US fought back, ousted North Koreans from the South and occupied North Korea. China then intervened and pushed back American troops to the South Korean border. A ceasefire followed. When North Korea invaded South Korea, the US deployed its Seventh Fleet to prevent mainland forces from landing in Formosa (Taiwan). Gen. Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang had lost to Mao Zedong's Communists in 1949 and Chiang and his army fled to Formosa. US intervention in the Chinese civil war has prevented the Communists from reclaiming China's last province. The US also sells weapons to Taiwan minting money but keeping China divided. However, far from retaliating against US interference in its internal affairs, China focused on building its economy through cooperation with the US. Today China has become the world's second largest economy. Vietnam was a French colony which the Japanese seized during the Second World War. After Japan's defeat the French sought to return. North Vietnam defeated the French. The US intervened militarily and even used chemical weapons to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail. The North Vietnamese, however, trounced the US. The US neither apologized for attacking North Vietnam nor did it pay reparations for the destruction it wrought. But the Vietnamese, keen to rebuild, developed cooperation with the US. The Vietnamese economy is thriving as a result. That's a lesson for Pakistan. It has lost half of the country. What remains faces horrendous problems. US drones invade Pakistan regularly to kill those it suspects of holding anti-US views and they also kill innocent people. Thousands have also been killed or wounded in battles between Pakistani troops and Waziri tribesmen. Baluchistan has simmered for a long time. Bomb blasts regularly kill innocent people throughout the country. Tourists, investors and foreign cricket teams shun Pakistan. Religious minorities are being killed, persecuted and discriminated against. Although Mukhtar Mai and Malala Yousafzai won global support, thousands of women are denied education or are violated. Kidnappings and robberies are common. Corruption and social inequities are mind-boggling. While high civilian and military officials, businessmen and politicians live like maharajahs, common people struggle for basic necessities. Education, health, and social services are neglected while security services grab the lion's share of meager resources. The youth are desperate. Drug users numbered 9.6 million in 2011. Unemployment is staggering, says the Pakistani Economy Watch, with the workforce far outpacing economic growth. Those who are able to go overseas for jobs or migration. Suicides are increasing. This is today when the population is 180 million. By 2030 it is expected to grow to 260 million without corresponding growth in investment, economy and jobs. That will turn the country into a human volcano ready to explode. Relations with most neighbors are sour. American U-2 planes used to fly from Pakistan to spy on the USSR. The US and Pakistan issued denials while the USSR threatened to nuke Pakistan. When pilot Gary Powers was shot down in Russia, he admitted he flew from Peshawar. Fortunately the US and the USSR did not go to war otherwise Pakistan might have been incinerated by Russian nuclear bombs. Relations with India have been strained, mostly because of Kashmir. When the British left India they authorized the rulers of princely states to join India or Pakistan while considering but not necessarily following the people's wishes. So when Junagadh's Muslim ruler chose to join Pakistan, although most people in Junagadh are Hindu, Pakistan unhesitatingly accepted his decision. Kashmir's Hindu maharajah dilly-dallied but when Pakistani tribesmen invaded Kashmir, he acceded to India under Governor-General Lord Louis Mountbatten's pressure making Kashmir a part of India, though most Kashmiris are Muslim. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promised the Kashmiris a plebiscite. The UN endorsed a ceasefire and called for a plebiscite administrator to arrange a plebiscite in Kashmir after the withdrawal of all Pakistani forces and the bulk of Indian troops. India and Pakistan agreed to have the plebiscite administrator assume his role within six months, but India said it would accept any European as the plebiscite administrator while Pakistan insisted it had to be US Admiral Chester Nimitz and nobody else. A deadlock followed. Pakistan also did not withdraw troops from Kashmir nor did India reduce its forces. Pakistan signed a military pact with the US despite India's warning that such a step would scuttle talks on Kashmir. The dispute started in 1948. In addition to the war at that time, it has generated wars in 1965 and in the Siachen Glacier and the Kargil Hills and has poisoned relations between the two countries. The dispute, along with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, has generated extremism in Pakistan and has distorted governance and the economy with education, health, social services and infrastructure being neglected and the resources being diverted to the armed forces. The country has also become slavishly dependent on the US, although that did not help in the 1965 or 1971 wars or when the US sent forces to kill Osama Bin Laden or when US drones regularly attack their prey inside Pakistan. These self-destructive policies do not bother the elites, who buy properties abroad, send their children to study and settle in the West and stash their own resources abroad. The people who suffer the most from this crazy and crippling obsession with India are average Pakistanis and Kashmiris. Their sufferings will multiply with time as the population grows, resources are plundered and economic growth, education, health and infrastructure remain in the doldrums. To survive, let alone flourish, Pakistan must revamp totally its priorities and warped thinking. It must crush extremism and fanaticism, normalize relations with India and Afghanistan, curb banditry and corruption, protect minorities and all other disadvantaged people, restore the rule of law, protect all citizens and turn its full attention to building the country. The ruling military, political and bureaucratic elite must learn that under Islam they are the servants and not masters of the people. Then perhaps Pakistan will become a model of Islamic renaissance, a beacon of light and a source of pride and joy for its people as its founders had envisaged. — Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge. He has received the Order of Canada, Order of Ontario and the Queen's Diamond and Golden Jubilee Medals.
