Pakistan- Failed or Flailing State ?

Not a day passes by without Pakistan or Pakistani being mentioned in the media either in the context of terrorist related acts committed by a Pakistani or Pakistan being mentioned as a State sponsor of terrorism. Be it in the context of Kashmir, where Pakistan chooses to call these terrorists as Freedom Fighters / Mujahideens or in the context of British / American Muslims of Pakistani origin committing acts of terrorism, the Pakistani link is unfailingly being heard or written about. However, we do not hear of Indian Muslims being mentioned as terrorists in similar vein or in that connotation, although the stock of Islamic adherents in this part of the sub-continent is basically the same. Fortuitously, therefore, Indian Muslims have not been bracketed or type-casted as terrorists. The acts of terrorism committed by an Indian Muslim in India invariably gets ascribed to its handlers based in Pakistan. Pakistan, therefore, is increasingly being seen and described as epicenter of terrorism in greater part of the world. This development is a matter of great concern and needs to be seriously examined by all right thinking people both in India and Pakistan.
Indeed, this grave matter has far reaching consequences for generations of unborn Pakistanis. It is doubtful, whether they will ever come to terms with this horrid appellation and also live down this stigma or bloody label for centuries to come, should also come up for serious discussion by the intellectuals on both sides of the sub-continent. The short answer to this question is firm NO. An average Pakistani, as a consequence of developments around him, senses undercurrent of hostility and being unwelcome. As a result, he is increasingly withdrawing himself into a shell and getting isolated from the world affairs. Why has the fate of an average Pakistani come to this sorry pass ?
Pakistan has come to this sorry pass because its founders, past military and non-military rulers as also its present dispensation have paid minimal, if not, negligent regard to its first task of nation-building. But its rulers,past and present, have never been found wanting in fanning hatred to all things Indian-judged solely on the basis of religion. The founders chose not to seriously consider whether social cohesiveness and integrity of the nation could be achieved in the face of diverse group interests, culture, sub-sects like Shias, Sunnis etc., (which is what present day Pakistan is) solely on the basis of religion alone. This question was never considered dispassionately. If this was really possible, then, we should not be witnessing fratricidal war being waged among the adherents of Islam in Iraq. By the same logic, the shameful act of revenge hanging of Saddam Hussein by a fellow Muslim would not have taken place. So the glue binding diverse cultural groups, interests, sects, including migrant Indians who chose to cast their die with the fledgling theocratic state, arguably, has to be something more than religion. What is that "elusive-something" that will bind the heterogeneous interest groups as a cohesive and well-knit society will be examined by contrasting the same with the formation of another theocratic state called Israel.
Israel-a study in contrast
If religion were to be the sole identity criteria for State utopia, then all the ills of infamous Pakistani identity should have visited the State of Israel as well. If not, why not?. Thankfully, the reasons are not unfathomable. The siege mentality which the founders of Pakistan very assiduously cultivated in the minds of innocent Muslims, was soon, but very cleverly, replaced by hatred for infidels(India). This was in spite of getting the country vivisected on the basis of religion. The raison- d`et re for adopting this strategy was to deflect the attention of average Pakistani from the expectation of nation building by comparison with India's progress . To achieve this end, the founders and subsequent dispensations very conveniently adopted rabid posturing, laying claims on Kashmir by terming it as 'Unfinished Agenda of Partition', empowering the mullahs etc. Basically, the founders failed to lay the foundation of Democracy deep enough, so as to be well entrenched as in India. Instead they plumped for religion, believing, that it will serve as opium of the masses. For sometime yes, but not for eternity. This regrettably has resulted in power equation shifting from the centre to the periphery. Where peripheral fringes of the society come to occupy the center stage; where the tail starts wagging the dog instead of other way round; where State apparatus assumes the form of a Frankenstein carrying out its bidding and on its own as well; where criminals and haven-seekers get patronage and shelter. In this milieu , rule of law takes a back seat, nation building becomes its first casualty, its populace misled for decades becomes available on tap, so to say, as its canon-fodder. All this in the name of religion!
Israel- A Theocratic Democracy with unshifting power equation
In stark contrast, Israel is a model of success story, where the same siege mentality has been properly channeled by the State to keep the flock with itself besides beckoning the flock elsewhere in the world to come and join it. Where the State does not use its citizens as canon-fodder and where the State wages a war to get back its captured citizens (dead or alive) as it strongly believes in its citizen`s unalienable right to live in human dignity and in peace. In short, its command and control structure has not shifted from the centre to the periphery and, therefore, its power equation remains just right and proper.
Where does this leave us, living as we do within striking distance from this unstable neighbour, ruled by a galaxy of tin pot soldiers and peripheral fringes in tandem, doing a jig or a tango?. This power sharing equation does not inspire confidence and is not likely to change either. This writer foresees, in the absence of any other potent unifying force infusing shared sense of nationhood, brotherhood and fraternity - a virtual dismemberment of Pakistan into many pieces corresponding to various interest groups. Significantly, the Democrat controlled Congress in United States has just passed an anti-proliferation bill requiring its President to take punitive actions against countries with dubious proliferation records. This is seen as Congress` first stern and real warning to Pakistan signaling its unhappiness with the way it has gone about dealing an shielding its disgraced nuclear scientist A.Q.Khan and his nuclear proliferation network as also Pakistan`s palpable unwillingness to proactively deal with Taliban menace on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
All things considered, it would be in the interest of Pakistan to restore democracy and stop aiding and abetting acts of terrorism in the name of freedom struggle besides reigning in its own ISI which has vowed to inflict million bleeding wounds on India as retribution for its dismemberment and formation of Bangladesh. As it stands now, Pakistan is both a failed and flailing state with nothing to show to its credit as a theocratic nation.