Happy Independence Day, Pakistan & all its Parts: Jinnah’s Broken Dream, Army's ATM and People's Disillusionment

“Pakistan today has defied its own name, as there is nothing Islamic about it, no Republic in it and people do not live to see another day”.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan, born on 14th August 1947, has many external events and entities to thank for who as mid-wives helped give birth to this artificial state and later, almost 78 years down the line, still care for it like a child with special needs.

Illustration by The Geostrata

To begin with, not for the treachery of Muhammed Ali Jinnah and his Muslim League, this carcinogenic entity may not have seen the light of day. The begging, borrowing and stealing that these leaders did was further evident when they had to replace the aboriginal languages of Punjabi, Sindhi and other dialects with Urdu, which wasn't even a language spoken by a quarter of the population. It becomes a necessity to fact-check the entire nation, which is absurdly high on the state narratives of Pakistan studies. 

The father of your Nation (Quaid-e-Azam) had to wait in a broken-down ambulance, signing his death warrant, a year into your nation-state being born. This nation's identity was built on "that which is not India", forcing this nefarious nation and its institutions to attack India, a few months into its independence. That too in the garb of disgruntled tribal raiders, mimicking "acquired national heroes" in their acts of rape, loot and plunder.  

This artificial Nation with castles in the air and poverty on its streets, was at it. At the same time, its first Prime Minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, was shot dead in 1951, and Madam Fatima Jinnah, sister of the Quaid-e-Azam, was murdered in 1967. The common and amazing fact is, these two political killings remain unsolved to this day.  

It was again in 1965, when the idea of pan-Islamism struck again, and in the garb of the Muslim Brotherhood, Operation Gibraltar was launched to fulfil the Kashmir dream, only to be bruised and battered with a bloody nose in the battlefield of Punjab and Kashmir. 

Yet the irony of the state is, this very pan-Islamism was replaced by Army-sponsored race and genocidal killing camps in Bangladesh when "Bangabondhu" Sheikh Mujibur Rahman won the popular vote, only to be imprisoned with his people being annihilated under the infamous Operation Searchlight. The Hamoodur Commission Report to probe this genocide was never made public and to this date remains redacted.

Ultimately, in 1971, with the active knowledge of the American establishment, this genocide was carried out only to give birth to a new state of Bangladesh. The surrender of 93,000 troops that followed remains a post-World War II record. It was these very troops under the infamous leadership of General Tikka Khan that were relocated to carry out the Baloch genocide.

The practice of the Pakistan Army, having its favourite politicians, was always a thing, with Field Marshal Ayub Khan launching Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and General Zia-ul-Haq launching Nawaz Sharif. The fact remains hard to ignore that the state has been under direct military rule four 4 times and under indirect rule for its total existence. The three A's that have kept the state propped up somehow are - Allah, Army and America. And its people have been fed on the anti-America, India and Israel pedigree for quite some time now. 

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who gave the nuclear dream to Pakistan, was ultimately put to a judicial death in 1979 by General Zia-ul-Haq, this decision being accepted in 2024. General Zia, bitten by the rabid ideas of radical terrorism, took upon himself to change the goals of the state, with the motto of the Army being changed too: "Iman, Taqwa, Jihad fi Sabilillah" which translates to "Faith, Piety, Struggle in the name of God".

This was followed by the Grand jihad in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union, with Pakistan taking American funds to train Afghan fighters, and bringing this model lock, stock and barrel to Kashmir under the infamous K2 (Khalistan and Kashmir) plan, using Operation Topac, bleeding India through a thousand cuts. Later to be assassinated by the state itself, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, though accepting her Sindhi Rajput origins, yet spewing venom, like all others, also played a role. 

Yet, all of this failed head-on, first during the Kargil conflict under dictator Pervez Musharraf and later as the state crumbled under its own Frankenstein of radical Islamic terrorism. With the dawn of the era of suicide bombing, and no government being able to complete its term, almost 4 decades later, the state today is under fire from all corners, with its failing economy, protesting people and callous leadership, both civilian and military. 

The Baloch, leaderless after the assassination of Sardar Akbar Bugti and the death of Sardar Ataullah Mengal, today have regrouped under the civilian leadership of Dr. Mehrang Baloch and military leadership of the Baloch Liberation Army. Yet the state is completely dumb founded, in front of the non-cooperation and civil disobedience of Dr. Mehrang Baloch and her people, only to use brute force.

With over 25,000 forced disappearances, unmarked graves and disproportionate force, today the Pakistani army is on the receiving end. March 2025 was the deadliest month, with over 100 attacks from Baloch and Pashto groups alone, the most daring being the Jaffar Express attack, where the casualties to date are not clear. 

The history of Balochistan, which was independent till 1948 under the Khan of Qalat, but was oppressed for decades, stands today at a crossroads. Soldiers refuse to serve there, and the writ of the state doesn't work in over 50% of the province, which in itself is 44% of Pakistan's landmass, rich in minerals. The Chinese, who, under their debt trap diplomacy under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), were, for all practical purposes, given the province on lease, too, are on the back burner, as their people, too, get attacked recklessly. 

In addition to this, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the ideological brothers of the Afghan Taliban, have taken hold of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, also known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Here too, the writ of the state seems to be failing in cities like Peshawar. The state's economic condition is already in a mess, with Karachi being plagued by gang wars and no-go zones for the civilian administration and population.

The TTP, which was behind the mass murder of children in the 2013 Peshawar Army School attack, wants an Islamic emirate established in Pakistan, abolishing its ragtag constitution, while giving birth to seeds of sectarianism. Also, there seems to be a temporary alignment of interest between the Baloch and Pashto Pathans, who are being led, peacefully, by the likes of Manzoor Pashteen, Mohseen Dawar and Ali Wazir, who are shot at, forcefully picked up and tortured in custody. They are the popular people's leaders, along with Dr. Mehrang Baloch, as accepted by the loya jirga itself. 

The state of Pakistan seems to be sitting on a Time bomb of ethno- nationalism, where every province, its popular leaders and various oppressed sects like the Shias and Ahmadiyas, are itching to secede. In the middle of this, the only silver lining which would have been for the Pakistani state was former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who was slandered on corruption charges, put behind bars and even sexually assaulted.

This is being added to the latest list of misadventures of the General, now Field (Failed) Marshal Asim Munir. The response was ballistic and catastrophic, leading to the May 9th riots, which put the bravery of the Pakistani army on display, where their soldiers fired on unarmed protesters. Meanwhile, their Corps commanders in the city of Peshawar, amongst many, chose to run away, as citizens ran amok, ransacking cantonments and military areas, in never-before-seen protests. 

Having given this history and geopolitical time capsule, the message must not be addressed to the civilian establishment because there is nothing as such. The habit of the state in such a case to externalise its problems is a habit in the genesis of the Pakistani DNA.

The real strings of the puppet lie firstly at Appara(headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence) and General Headquarters, Rawalpindi. So, Field Marshal Asim Munir, this message is for you. This nation's economy is failing. The International Monetary Fund has bailed you out 24 times, half of them in this century itself.

The Army runs the roost, a fact known to all, which is also evident from Field Marshal Munir's last two visits to the United States of America, in a month. Here it becomes imperative to remind the establishment of the great quote of Late Henry Kissinger, "It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal".

This army and its establishment, which cannot talk to its disgruntled citizens, but can have its mercenary ideology of feeding on its Geo-economics and being a uniformed mercenary force available at the disposal of all who can afford it like Pakistani support for America's Operation Midnight Hammer in Iran, is a path that will take you down to destruction. Like all other Army chiefs and popular military leaders who have made disproportionate assets in the name of Pakistan, they will someday have to answer.

Marshal Munir may have made resources for his generations to come, but he would go down like many others whose verbal diarrhoea cost the nation. In his jugular vein analogy for Kashmir, followed by the Pahalgam attack of 22nd April, he only opened the flood gates to a norm-defying response from India, in the name of Operation Sindoor. And Marshal Munir's Operation Bunyan Ul Marsoos was no match for India's tangible and diplomatic capacity. 

To the people of Pakistan, there isn't light at the end of the tunnel. For them, it isn't a business to prosper rather a fight to survive. There is no real independence, where the mind could be free from fear. This nation's children, each one of them, are born with a debt of 86,500 Pakistani rupees, while the generals and the establishment pocket away their resources, put their country on sale, with their currency, shooting up to $1 against 283 Pakistani rupees.

And it's not just the currency which is shooting. The people under the military boot only see the magic which the Fauji Foundation does, a military created to protect, but it only does business deals and sleaziness in politics. Human development is in shambles, and people, the citizens for whom Jinnah envisioned this riyasat-e-Madina, are the metaphorical sacrificial lambs.

While every human and geographical constituent itches towards freedom, only time will tell how long this artificial entity of a state holds up. So a happy 77th Independence Day wish is due to the people, who may rise for freedom, and an Independence Day wish to everyone else,  from whom this freedom is craved. 

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BY KAUSHAL SINGH

CENTRE FOR LAW AND POLITICS

TEAM GEOSTRATA

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