SINKING SHIP
| Date :15-Sep-2019 |
NO MATTER what Prime Minister Mr. Imran Khan does, Pakistan seems to be sinking ever lower on an every-day basis. If there is bad news on the economic front as Islamabad is not likely to fulfill the condition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to refund Rs. 75 billion to tax-payers, an equally bad news greeted the confused Prime Minister in Occupied Kashmir where a revolt against the regime is building in intensity and spread. And as if this is not enough, Pakistan is getting blasted at every international forum on its stand on Kashmir. And to make matters worse still, Pakistani intellectuals have begun urging the Imran-Khan-Government to stop meddling in Kashmir as it is a totally internal issue of India. In addition to all this, a movement, too, has begun in Pakistan seeking Mr. Imran Khan’s ouster amid suspicion that the country may face a split into 5-6 smaller segments in the next few years., The cricketer-turned-Prime Minister’s hands, thus, are full.
As the captain of a possibly sinking ship, Mr. Imran Khan does not know how to make possible complex challenges with only two hands. The trouble is that Mr. Imran Khan alone could not have brought about this abysmal condition. For, all the previous rulers since formation of the country in 1947 have contributed to the present mess.
Since its formation, Pakistan did not evolve as a nation or a well-defined State. Battles of attrition, unsteady Governments, dominance of the military junta on policy matters, and defeat at the hands of India is three-four major conflagrations in about fifty years, and slicing off of its territory when Bangladesh was formed have weakened the State so much that many observers of international issues suspect that Pakistan may wilt under its own pressure,indicating abject failure on all fronts that includes almost every sphere. It is not possible to imagine if the current rulers in Pakistan will have the courage to listen to the wise counsel from its own intellectual class whose members have begun asserting that there was no sense left in keeping the Kashmir issue alive. For, as most intellectuals in Pakistan reportedly think, enmity with India is the main reason for Pakistan’s implosion.
They believe that India under Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has cornered Pakistan in such a tight spot that redemption from it is almost impossible. One section of the Pakistani intelligentsia even thinks that Mr. Modi is among the world’s most powerful leaders and Pakistan should avoid confrontation with India under his leadership. Of course, the Pakistani military is not likely to listen to any such counsel. For reasons never explained to anybody in all these 72 years, the Pakistani military has continued to harbour an uncalled for animus towards India and has allowed a massive mess-up of the country’s fortunes over time. So tight is the Army’s grip on Pakistan’s affairs that even the current Prime Minister is understood to be a stooge of the Armed Forces, doing things to their bidding. It appears from all these indicators that Pakistan is marching slowly but surely towards its doom in the next some years. If there is some substance in this apprehension, then India will have to keep ready its narrative for the sinking Pakistan.