Pakistan The Way Forward By Afnan Ullah Khan
Book review: Pakistan the way forward by Afnan Ullah khan
Afnanuallah khan is one of those bright educated young Pakistanis, who after having successfully completed their studies abroad and excelled in his work, had decided to return to Pakistan the land of his birth. He has demonstrated his faith in the future by not just returning home but he has also been applying his mind to Pakistan's problems, challenges, and future. This book is a collection of his ideas and views on various facets of Pakistan.
This book title is the way forward which insists us to look beyond the dilemmas of our country. The writer has deeply researched the core issues that impact Pakistan's future from where they stand at present, to that which could set Pakistan on the course to progress and realize its true potential.
In this book, Arthur outlines a brilliant plan for Pakistan that can put Pakistan on the path of prosperity and stability. First of all, he elaborate Pakistan's past and present-day challenges of the dwindled economy, bad governance, and terrorism accrued from the defiant policies and wrong direction of the past government and then highlight the causes of the problem and provided the model to address this predicament pragmatically.
In this book, Arthur used an optimistic statement to prove his idea which the way forward. He advocates that although Pakistan faced a lot of problems since its inception but now we have to adopt a forward-looking approach instead of wasting time in blaming each others.
The book Pakistan the way forward presents an idea which insists our country to change his way in which it is since its inception with facing a lot of problems. He also presents solutions to the problem which Pakistan confronting in its economy, constitution, administration, governance, etc.
Book review
In the first chapter of the book Pakistan, the way forward author writes about Pakistan's concept of modernization he said that to be a modern Islamic state is a vision of Pakistan since its inception. But in Pakistan, the only definition of being modernized is wearing western dresses, listening to western music, buying western products, and so on. According to the author, Pakistan needs to utilize is knowledge, research, and egalitarian aspect of western society not the Cultural and economic aspect of western society.
And then author discussed Islamic and western concept and said that the Islamic concept is more egalitarian than western society but Muslim society attack toward western society because Muslim society is polarized, Muslims have divided themselves based on religion, sect, linguistics, and ethnicity, the western concept of secularism give freedom, equality and respect to every individual in a society irrespective of the culture caste, race and other main reason is that people add their cultural conservative values with Islam like keeping women inside the house and not letting her to get out, dowry at the time of marriage, etc. At last, he recommended some pieces of advice to develop and modernize Pakistan. He said that if we want to modernize Pakistan then we have to first give modern education to clerics, Muhallah, and mutis who run the mosque and madrassas in Pakistan this would enable them to understand 21th century, moreover, this would set up an environment of tolerance, innovation and forward-looking in our society which is Pakistan crucial recruitment. According to Arthur the reason of Muslim backwardness is the discontinuation of the evolution of Islamic laws and the stagnation of Islamic laws over the last 50year. He gives an example of Iqbal how he reconstruct Islamic thoughts and tried to unite the Muslim community in one plate foam.
In the second section of the way forward Arthur write about class division and said that class division is very high in Pakistan the best example he was given is the Pakistan railway which is only used low-income groups and whereas state airlines like PIA used high-income groups of Pakistan. He said it's only a profit-making business. He further said equal economic opportunities are the main step of development but it does not mean that we reject capitalism utterly it means that poor people are given a due share of wealth in Pakistan, and heavy tax levied on luxury goods on the other hand masses should have access to the cheap mean of transport like a motorcycle, buses, and train.
The second chapter of the book is about the pillars of the state, in which he first discusses the military and democratic government of Pakistan. He said Pakistan had suffered decades of martial law which had grim consequences for the state. Ayub martial isolated bengalines, Zia martial create a jihadi culture and finally de- Islamization by Musharraf shook the very pillar of the state and create a constant state of anarchy (lawlessness) and ad- holism. Military intervention has weakened the legislature, judiciary, and executive they in turn broke the constitution of Pakistan which is fundamental to all laws of the land. Therefore it creates a culture where the masses try to break the laws as the government itself has no moral or legal ground.
Second, he discusses the democratic governments of Pakistan, in which he first looks at zulfikar Ali's's button democratic government he said butto government destroyed the local industry to nationalization. He ruled for 5 years which was filled with military operations, torture, and abuse of the opposition. In 1990 second democratic government come into being no democratic government was given enough time to implement its policies and the state remained in constant disorder. Military indirect control was reminded. The third phase of democracy starts when Afif Ali Zardari comes into power. He also failed miserably on all fronts .constant conflicts with the judiciary on opening cases against Asif Ali in Swaziland and rampant corruption in all sphere has tarnished the image of democracy and demoralized the support of government.
The next topic is about the structure of parliament, in which the writer said that Theoretically parliament is run by the best-educated highly experienced professionals with at least expertise in a certain area of running state affairs. Theory aside in reality it is clear that this is not the case in Pakistan at least, as the most parliamentarian are feudal lords, religious scholars, political opportunists who want to be politicians to enjoy luxury and industrialists are the only people who have expertise in running businesses and can use this experience in running the government as well. And then he explains why Pakistan's middle-class people don’t have any experience in politics?. The main factor according to the writer is that in Pakistan political education is not given at the local level, political education gets only privileged background people from other countries.
The next topic is about the Pakistan national accountability bureau in which Arthur describes Pakistan's conditions of accountability since Pakistan's inception and after the establishment of NAB. In 1999 PML-N government establish NAB which is used to deny corruption, nepotism, etc. in Pakistan. And then Arthur describes how military and civilian governments use NAB for their personal interest. Pervez Musharraf is convinced that Nawaz and his family are also involved in corruption but has not taken any action then Musharraf has to go along with a ridiculous hijacking. Musharraf comes into power and uses NAB as a tool to get support from different political parties. The later pp government come into power and used NAB as a tool for victimization.
In the next topic, Arthur presents the role of the US in Pakistan politics. According to Arthur's research in Pakistan, elite’s politicians and the army are against each other so that’s why to protect their personal interests they get advice from the us embassy in the politics in Pakistan.
The third topic is about the role of the army in the development of Pakistan. Arthur was of the view that the Pakistan army remain the foremost political player in Pakistan for most of the 63 years. Pakistan army has stuck in the middle of nowhere, neither Pakistan has progressed nor has it failed. He said that to understand the army we have to look at the history of Pakistan. When Pakistan was formed Pakistan army was constituted originally by the Britisher army of India that volunteered to join Pakistan. The army did not take part in the independence movement as a matter of the fact they were the tool of the Britisher empire. When Pakistan formed its army found itself in the state. The newly formed army was secular and most of the officers copied the Britisher army lifestyle. Therefore drinking alcohol, greed for land, and lust for women was common practice. 70 percent of Pakistan's budget used the army till to 1980 then it reduce to 60 percent. Before the election of 1958, Ayub was actively conspiring to stop the election and was seeking support from the US. Iskandar Mirza also support Ayub because he consider Bengali of a lower caliber and was worried about the political victory of suharwardy coalition. This mindset was shared with Ayub and he used him as a tool to come into power. Ayub's rule ended with the fall of Dhaka. Ayub's policies were short-term and beneficial for a few people.
The next topic of the book is hamood Rahman's commission. In Dec Zulfikar Ali appoint a commission that was given the task to figure out the circumstances in which the eastern command of the Pakistan armed forces surrender in East Pakistan. This commission presents its report three years later. It shows that army officers and carders are involved in lust for wine, greed for land, and lust for women the first section of the report show us that at that time the civilian government was just like a puppet which was installed for face-saving where all design was taken by the army. The second section of the report mentions some army officers' names like the general tikka general Nazi who’s looting the general stores of Bengalis for food and they also involved in threatening the civilian women for rape. As far as other officers they are also involved in looting, raping, etc. they are not interested in fighting at all. They abandoned their posts, they look the bankrupted, raped women, killed innocent and weak, and when they come to fight they surrendered.
The next topic is about the development of the country. Which writer said that Pakistan did not become a successful country because it did not achieve the industrial revolution. Most Muslim countries use medieval and ancient methodologies for development so that’s why they are weaker and distorted conditions. In Asia only two countries able to complete the industrial revolution which is China and South Korea. Pakistan and other south Asia countries were busy fighting the East Indian Company while other countries were going through a cycle of the industrial revolution. Muslims all over the world missed the industrial revolution. This huge mistake of not keeping up with changes in the world put these empires on the path to destruction. West used this mistake to its advantage and the age of colonialism began in the Muslim countries of the world. Pakistan could not industrialize because it could not achieve sovereignty. Britisher achieved the industrial revolution from 1750 to 1850. This level of innovation and entrepreneurship enabled the development of mechanized farming, mechanized mining, railroad steam power, etc. Britisher achieved the industrial revolution because of long-term peace between England and Scotland, a simplified legal system, and a free-market economy.
The fourth chapter of this book is about the economic system of Pakistan in which the writer compares western and Muslim economical systems and stated that if Pakistan wants to develop itself then it has to follow the Islamic system whose goal is not only to achieve better income distribution but to aggregate production as well.. according to Arthur Western system is good for western countries in and Islamic system is for Islamic system Next topic is about the education system of Pakistan in which writer stated that Pakistan has multiple education systems which is based on memorizing rather than analyzing. According to the author, this education system divides people between each other and also a negative impact on the economy so the Pakistan government has to install a common education system to eradicate all issues in the education sector.
The next topic of this book is about religion in which the author describes how political parties and the army used Islam as a political tool and then highlights its impact on the country Arthur said using Islam as a tool has to divided society into different groups. Pakistan is a religious country in which religion is a main role to unite the country but it also divide people. Author said that there was a time when European thoughts receive inspiration from the world of Islam but today Muslim counties moving toward west there is nothing wrong in that movement, the world is changed a lot but Muslim stick under the nineteen century. Islamic scholars prohibit using modern technology such as printing of Quran through machines, using mikes in mosques, using of internet, social media, computers, telephone, etc. because they thought that technology is introduced to European which is un-Islamic. In Pakistan, every individual is try to distinguish herself from other rather than focusing on the message of Islam which mandate Muslim brotherhood and egalitarianism. At last, the writer suggests some ways to eradicate extremism and intolerance. He said that government should censor the internet and mean of communication to ensure that religion is not used by any group to further their interest, establish world-class religious universities which enable multiple faith research, and promote those individuals in the position of a cleric who gets religious education and have proper knowledge about all religion, at district level there should be a council of scholar from a different sect that are responsible harmony between different groups, etc.
The last chapter is about the foreign policy of Pakistan in which Arthur purpose some fundamentals of foreign policies that Pakistan should follow so that it could protect its self-interest. Arthur said that Pakistan should be located at the junction of south Asia so it has to make long-term goals and have to maintain peaceful relations with neighbor Muslim and superpower countries. It is located at the center of Asia if its neighbor disturbs its security will also disturb it like our invasion of Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan has to create good relations with other countries and also elaborate on how it will take advantage of its location. The writer suggests several septs to make good relations with neighbors first he said that Pakistan has to develop a good relationship with Iran. Pak-Iran gas pipeline is a good step toward this direction but it has to focus on developing the road and rail links to Iran so that we can get cheap access to the European market.
Arthur said that Pakistan make a good relationship with turkey because it help Pakistan since its inception. Turkey does not have the technology to develop strategic weapons we should help turkey in developing strategic weapons then it helps Pakistan to enhance trade.
Alc to the writer Pakistan should focus on starting cultural and economic activities with center Asian countries to get benefits from their large deposits of untapped oil and gas in the world. Further, he discusses Pakistan's relationship with the west in which he said that Pakistan cannot cut its relationship with the west because it depends on western technology, economy, etc. so it has to continue its peaceful relationship. Arthur suggests making a strong Muslim chain in which he said that Pakistan has to make good relations with the Arab world. The Arab world heavily uses oil money in the western countries. we should encourage the Arab world to divert some part of its investment to Pakistan as this would bear higher rewards. Pakistan should also plan to build an underwater tunnel that would connect the port city of Gwadar to Muscat, Osman. This would give us a cheap and reliable communication channel to the Arab world.
At last, Arthur discusses Pakistan- china relationship and suggest that china help Pakistan every time so it also has to protect china relation in this region and focus on developing itself in the areas of trade and technologies so that it can offer china otherwise our relationship with China will become one-sided and all one-sided relationships are bound to fail.
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