Integration through development

Rasul Bakhsh Rais

While maintaining a credible threat of use of force in the background, we must explore viable political alternatives

Pakistan is a diverse country with many linguistic and cultural groups possessing a sense of history and traditional territorial spaces. There are many points of cultural, social and economic intersection among our social groups, and they have many overlapping bonds of religion and history that promote a sentiment of togetherness.

But solidarity or togetherness seldom occur and can be brought about only through good sentiments or political rhetoric. Before we think about how different social groups can be integrated into a modern nation state, we need to acknowledge cultural and ethnic pluralism as a hard fact of post-colonial political life.

The second important point to consider is that ethnic or cultural pluralism by itself does not stand against national solidarity or national cohesion; it just requires a very different kind of national outlook and politics. Three dynamic concepts of regional autonomy, empowerment and representation must provide the foundation on which the nation building process must rest.

Even in the best of national circumstances, these ideas may prove inadequate and fail to deliver on their theoretical promise without a practical component of development. We understand that federal and democratic politics are the natural tools to advance the purpose of national solidarity, but they must be complemented with what the state and society can actually contribute toward economic development and social change for the less developed regions of the country.

Pakistan is a complex society with an intricate mosaic of ethnic, sub-ethnic, tribal and many regional groups that insist on maintaining distinctive existence in terms of traditional institutions, customs and social values. They exist within each of the four provinces, and out of their formal boundaries in the Northern Areas and Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The question is how to bring these two regions and backward areas of the provinces into the national mainstream.

There cannot be any two opinions on development as an effective instrument of modernisation. But the nature and key elements of development have been and will continue to be subjects of intense intellectual and policy debates.

For students of political development and social change, the idea of development has many dimensions, grouped into social, economic and political categories.

At a time when democratic forces and political parties are thinking innovatively and airing fresh ideas about undoing part of the colonial past and stubborn legacies of dictatorial rule, let us not forget that our colonial and military masters were social and political outsiders. They were incapable of comprehending how the undercurrents of Pakistani society and social fabric work.

In contrast to isolation, neglect, collective punishment and selective cooptation of local influentials, development underscores the importance of equality, representation, national access and partnership. This approach is evident from Prime Minister Gillani’s bold outside-the-box thinking on most national issues, but particularly on bringing FATA into the national mainstream.

We may find many defenders of the old order of FATA, and let me also include in the discussion the Northern Areas, which have been neglected and alienated. There may be good reasons for not altering the traditional balance of these regions quickly and in one go. And some vested interests that have opposed any change advance a peculiar argument of exceptionalism based of history and tradition.

Contemporary realities of both these regions are radically different from popular perception or what the policy establishment would have us believe. The people of these areas want equal treatment, fair distribution and a common system of governance with the same rights and privileges as other parts of the country.

It is no coincidence that the most backward regions of the country are the least integrated ones. And in recent years, they have been breeding grounds for sectarian conflict and religious militancy. The old administrative measures and structures of governance are no longer viable instruments.

The forces that have so quickly captured a central space in the political scene of the country and with a collective commitment to re-examine issues of militancy and the national strategy against terrorism must focus on development as a tool for integrating FATA and Northern Areas.

The idea of development as briefly examined above needs to have social, political and economic components. The political element is key to social and economic change as it would throw open these regions to all political forces and extend national laws and institutions.

In modern times, separate laws and separate institutions for different regions have been found counterproductive to national integration. The old view that backward regions deserve special treatment has inversely led to their marginalisation. Special treatment for these areas should mean higher priority for development, not the continuation of archaic systems of governance.

While emphasising development, we need to be mindful about the environment and social capacities that determine its success. Development needs a path and an environment. Its path is democracy in pluralistic societies and political stability is its required condition. In the final analysis, both over time reinforce each other.

Pakistan has made a great fresh start in its third transition to democracy. Its hope and promise must also be reflected in bold initiatives toward FATA and Northern Areas. The collective leadership can bravely but with consensus end the isolation and administrative peculiarities of these regions. Change may not favour some interests, but that should not intimidate us.

Changing the structures of governance as well as substituting guns with butter must be the focal point of new change. We have relied too heavy on use of force under the advice of foreign powers that hardly have any empathy with local populations or show any real understanding of complex social structures.

That has worked against our national interests. While maintaining a credible threat of use of force in the background, we must explore viable political alternatives in finding solutions with the larger objective of integrating marginalised social communities into the national political system with equitable distribution of resources.

The author is a professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He can be reached at rasul@lums.edu.pk