Patriotism in Pakistan and Curse of the Bomb

By Rafia Zakaria
IT is said that Pakistan was born on Aug 14, 1947. But like other hazy snapshots
in the tampered-with album of our wishful history, this fact, nurtured through
rote and repetition, has faltered under the weight of reality.
If the fervour of homage and sacrifice is a reason to reconfigure Pakistanâ s creatio
n story, then the country was actually born on May 28, 1998. On that day, Pakist
an announced it had carried out five successful nuclear tests; patriotism in Pak
istan would henceforth be defined as a belief in the power to kill millions.
Since that day, a large section of Pakistanis have dutifully worshipped their bo
mb, imagining in its capacity to destroy, a safety that would insulate them from
incursions by nosy neighbors and meddling powers, from wars that would chip off
territory and skirmishes that would disrespect borders.
The bomb will save us, they believed, it will sustain us in these trying times (
we cannot be backward if we have the bomb) and save us from trying too hard (who
needs a super economy if you have a super bomb?). In times of trouble and fear,
when watching the bombing elsewhere â a punished Baghdad amidst its dusty ruins, a
desolate Kabul with its bombed-out streets â these Pakistanis turned to the bomb for
comfort, however elusive.
But like so many other things â infrastructure and institutions, roads and rituals â th
bomb too has failed Pakistan. In the past month, Pakistanâ s borders have been casua
lly ignored, security walls scaled and planes destroyed â all this despite the posse
ssion of the omnipotent trump card residing at the sacred altar of our national
consciousness.
The bomb that was supposed to deter and defeat has been unable to frighten anyon
e into leaving us alone. It has revealed, instead, the flimsy remains of our nat
ional pride and a confused, conspiracy-infested mental landscape. Never united o
therwise, Pakistanis can now share the heartbreak of knowing that they were neve
r invincible after all, that a few men could easily outwit and outsmart, and tha
t situating their self-worth in a bomb is exacting an infinitely bloody price.
No longer cosseted by the myth of a cure-all weapon, the bomb like an unveiled b
ride must be assessed in the fluorescence of a depressing and unwelcome day. It
was widely known to have been procured through deception and disguise, lies and
falsehoods. The man, who developed it, was chastised publicly and heroised priva
tely, despite what some saw as his mendacity.
These sins we forgave, unwilling to recognise their potent if silent attack on n
ational morality now poised to elevate someone accused of selling nuclear techno
logy and promoting proliferation. It is poised to accept that it is entirely for
givable to sacrifice what is right for what is needed and most damningly that th
e power to destroy is more venerable than the power to befriend and create.
The losses brought by the bomb would likely be forgiven by Pakistanis if they we
re moral concerns alone. In the cold estimations of post-Soviet calculations, nu
clear power was a deterrent, its possession meant that others would stay away, t
hat possession alone equalled power, especially for small countries with few fri
ends.
However, in the era of terrorism, where every living thing is a target and the p
ropagation of fear is a means to control, a markedly different equation of nucle
ar power is in operation. Under its deductions, weak states with nuclear weapons
attract rather than deter non-state enemies. Ideologically motivated non-state
actors see weak countries as easily penetrable targets which can provide access
to nuclear capabilities that would make the absence of territorial control large
ly irrelevant.
While the weapon caches of countries like the US are impenetrable to such groups
, those of weak countries are perceived as achievable. In simple terms, there is
a school of thought that Al Qaeda and similar groups will not stop targeting Pa
kistan as long as it possesses the nuclear bomb. In fact, maintaining the power
to destroy might well mean the slow but sure destruction of the country itself.
Non-state terror groups are not alone in bestowing unwanted attention on Pakista
n. Superpowers, both existing and emergent, have their own interests in the bomb
, and fears that Pakistan may not be able to keep its assets secure could well i
ncrease their efforts to meddle with and muddy existing configurations. These fe
ars do not appear far-fetched if little more than a couple of ladders, dark clot
hing and crossing a stream is needed to enter a naval base and wreak havoc on me
n and material.
If defences are seen as so fragile and security so decrepit then the concerns of
those that have much to lose cannot simply be shaken off with the blind faith b
estowed on the military in decades past.
Pakistanis have done a lot for the bomb; in the six squabbling decades of a meag
re existence they have sacrificed education, water, sanitation and even the patc
hed-together shreds of a national conscience to fund and fuel the military machi
ne which birthed the bomb.
As long as Pakistanis continue to rely on conspiracy to rationalise the collage
of military failures and cling to denial and delusion the curse of the bomb will
not be revealed. Perhaps the 30,000 dead Pakistanis, the young brave faces of m
artyred naval commandos, the lined-up bodies outside mosques, will provoke the q
uestion of what the bomb, so unconditionally loved, has really given Pakistan.
Source: The Dawn, Pakistan
URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarOnTerror_1.aspx?ArticleID=4706

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COMMENTS
5/28/2011 4:52:53 AM J.S.Bandukwala
World War ll ended with the horrible atomic attack on Japan. Since then power ha
s been equated with possession of atomic bombs. But the flip side of atomic weap
ons is the impossibility of using them between close neighbours. A nuclear attac
k on Lahore or Amritsar (seperated by barely less than 100 kms), could easily de
stroy the other city, because the radioactive waste could move in that direction
if the winds are right. Similarly a Chinese nuclear attack on Himalayan peaks,
could melt enough ice to cause a horrible flooding of North India. But conversel
y destroying the Himalayas of their snow and ice would cause irreparable ecologi
cal damage to Tibet and China, converting that region into a vast desert. Moreov
er the presence of nuclear weapons is a magnet for militants, who have made a mo
ckery of Islam. That defeats the very purpose of Pakistan's creation. It also m
akes it impossible for the US to leave Pakistan. The net result: a collapsing Pa
kistan torn apart by forces beyond its control. What a tragedy for Jinnah and Iq
bal. The culprit: General Zia and his bigotted view of Islam.
J.S.Bandukwala,
Baroda, Gujarat
5/27/2011 3:43:54 AM bpshah
Super satire by Rafia......matching the satires by NFP

5/26/2011 11:13:11 AM aditya

Rafia Zakaria is HOT..lemme guess cant compliment a woman on a islamic site rght
?..they r no lower than animals rght??