By I. A. Rehman
The Pakistan state has been vulnerable all along because it was born with several serious internal contradictions that required extraordinary political engineering. First, it adopted the ideal of a modern, democratic and apparently secular polity, although the demand for its creation had been based on the religious identity of the subcontinent’s Muslims. Secondly, it upheld a federal structure in theory and followed the colonial model of a unitary state in practice. Thirdly, it assumed that a democratic system could flourish in a society steeped in feudal culture. Fourthly, a larger part of its population was in the disadvantaged eastern wing while the mantle of power was assumed by the privileged western wing with a smaller population. And, fifthly, the events attending the birth of Pakistan and the global environment during its formative years led it to develop an obsession with security to the neglect of many other requisites of a democratic state of contented citizens.
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