The definition of a failed state is a political body that has disintegrated to a point where the basic conditions and responsibilities of a sovereign government no longer function properly. Likewise, when a nation weakens and its standard of living declines, it introduces the possibility of governmental collapse. If contrasted with the situation in Pakistan, on the most superficial level, one can declare that Pakistan is a failed state. But if we were to look at the state with a more microscopic lens, we realize that though the state machinery is flawed, it is not yet disintegrated. The problem, therefore, lies in the political and civilian institutions that lack capacity and competence. While the military takes the blame for this, civilian institutions always legitimize the coups. The Pakistani Supreme Court validates the coup and the dictators’ orders. Those jurists who uphold their commitment to the Constitution are replaced with compliant judicial lackeys. The military leader invariably assembles a “King’s Party,” by co-opting the most self-serving politicians who put personal power over principle. Finally, they are elected in flawed contests which produces a weak parliament which rubber stamps the diktats of the military leader.
As per Oxford think tank on policy matters, a failed state may be described as a country with a government that cannot or will not provide essential political goods to its citizens. The state may hold a seat in the United Nations and function as a sovereign nation and functional as a sovereign entity in regional and world politics, but as far as most of its people are concerned, the state fails them by its inability to perform state functions adequately and simultaneously no longer exercises a monopoly of violence within its territories. In 1947 two countries India as well as Pakistan were born simultaneously. Initially, Pakistan couldn’t prepare its first constitution till 1956 and just two years later Gen Ayub Khan scrapped the constitution after a military coup and brought his own constitution which his successor and dictator Gen Yahya Khan scrapped in 1969. In the year 1973 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto then drafted a fresh constitution and this made Pakistan an Islamic Republic. The first line of Pakistan’s preamble mentions that “universe belongs to the Almighty Allah alone” and it also includes a tribute to Jinnah in the preamble itself although Jinnah wanted a secular Pakistan. All these decades later India is a powerful, secular and increasingly prosperous nation whereas Pakistan is collapsing, let us examine the aspects on which Pakistan can be regarded as a failing or a failed state already.
The fact of the matter where its stands today is that Pakistan was the first of the modern states to be created in the name of religion. After the end of British dominion, Pakistan wanted to separate itself from India, its history, traditions and culture and regard itself as descendants of Turkish and Arab, which it is not. Pakistan is very much a South Asian country and a part of the subcontinent and the millennial ethos of India. As Ian Talbot a noted historian of Pakistan has written “70 years following creation of Pakistan have shown that language and religion rather than providing a panacea for unity in a plural society, have opened a Pandora’s Box of conflicting identities.” A large part of a nation’s identity comes from its sense of history, culture and traditions which emanates from the land and the legacy of the regions ancient civilizations. In Pakistan, generations have been fed fabricated and blatant lies about its history through textbooks in the state run institutions from elementary schools to universities. The state curriculum witnessed some major changes during Gen Zia Ul Haq’s regime with majority of emphasis being on Islamic history and negating a secular Pakistan. The education system pretends that the nation’s cultural association is with the Arab world and totally ignores the fact that Pakistan is home to many non-Muslim minorities and students are not introduced to other cultures and hence there is no concept of religious harmony and tolerance. Blatant lies fed to children through history textbooks regarding events in living memory such as the partition carnage in 1947 and the Indo-Pak wars of 1965, 1971 and 1999 lead to distorted view of nationalism. Rather than learning from historical mistakes the future generations are shown a false picture hence are doomed to repeat the same mistakes in future.
Post former Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan a US ally was entrusted to wage a war against the Soviets by training and equipping Afghan militia and militant elements thus giving rise to several terrorist networks like Haqqanis and Taliban under the nourishment of Pakistan Army. Pakistan’s ISI provided clandestine support to the Afghan Jihad. Over the years as the US funneled billions of dollars in financial aids and weapons to Afghan resistance through ISI, in the same era the Pakistani defense establishment became increasing powerful as the funds were utilized to make the military more and more influential rather than using it for social development. During the same time insurgents and Afghan refugees made their way into the porous Afghan-Pak borders with these weapons. The cold war created a Kalashnikov culture, violence, drugs business and Islamic sectarianism in Pakistan. Illegal arms business still thrives in Pakistan especially in NWFP and KPK regions. Pakistan Army has lost control in Sindh, Baluchistan, KPK and many other western provinces. Hence, Pakistan given its unstable political nature has created a monster on which it has barely any control. Pakistan has often faced the ire of the international community and more than once has embarrassed itself in front of the world due to its proven track record of providing safe heaven to international terrorists. From Bin Laden to Dawood Ibrahim to Syed Salahuddin all designated terrorists by the United Nations were either found in Pakistan or still enjoy refuge there under the close watch of ISI and Pakistani state. The very fact that such a situation exists shows the rogue and irresponsible behavior of Pakistan defense establishments. Failure to curb money laundering and financing of terror acts from Pakistan has led it to be in the grey list of FATF (twice), a Paris based plenary thus restricting international aid and loans, thus the economy is facing near bankruptcy threats and the social fiber is dwindling due to rising inflation.
Pakistan Army’s obsession with India is a decade’s long affair. Pakistan Army controls one-thirds of the economy and almost all the terror groups operating inside or outside its state boundaries. Pakistan Army is less of a state owned entity and more of a private limited company driven by profit and loss statements. The compelling reason for the Army’s obsession with India is that it justifies its importance which is good for business. The Army propaganda machine of DGI ISPR, state owned television and media apparatus ensures that the anti-India sentiments remain ever prevalent and does not dwindle down. To keep the coffers of the Army full through ever increasing defense budgets and to keep the illegal money machine ticking over, the Pakistani military requires an arch enemy and India completely fits the bill. By maintaining a façade of being worried about Kashmir, the Army maintains a low cost proxy conflict with India by using its non-state terrorist actors to attack India and keep things just below boiling point to avoid a full scale conflict.
