After the slavery of more than two hundred years under British rule, the Muslims of sub-continent finally succeeded in getting a separate home land for themselves on 14th August, 1947, under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
The Muslims fought for the state with an aim of getting freedom ensuring their prosperity and progress. However, despite passing 77 years of its creation the dream of prosperity could not become a reality. In fact, during the recent few years we have been questioning our freedom too. It feels like we had been put to an illusion that has been fading away by the exposure of the reality.
The founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, despite his poor health courageously dealt with challenges of the newly born state. Nevertheless, his life did not give him enough space to form a constitution for the state. He died the next year, in 1948, leaving the country without any constitution to follow.
Since then the civilian government faced leadership challenges leading to bad governance, political, strategic and economic crises.
In 1958, the government was taken over by a military rule. General Ayub Khan became the president. This dictatorship period continued for eleven years, the last two years of which were leaded by General Yahya.
The first direct military rule spread over the period of 1958 to 1971 ended up giving the country a democratic government that last only for six years.
In 1977, the government was again taken over by a military general, Zia-ul-Haq, who ruled the country for the next 11 years, until 1988.
It was not the end of the military rule in the country. Pakistan faced another period of dictatorship from 1999 to 2008, under the leadership of General Pervaiz Musharraf.
This makes a total of 33 years out of 77 during which Pakistan survived in authoritarian rule.
Unlike several other countries in the world, the dictatorship was appreciated, admired and desired by the general public. Masses felt satisfied, secured and progressive whenever there was a military rule.
I have heard the stories from my ancestors about how the prices of commodities were controlled during Ayub's era and moral rules were implemented during Zia's era. In fact, I have witnessed the infrastructural development and better living conditions in my own city during Musharraf’s era.
The public always considered the military as their saviour. The love for army was unwavering- so absolute that it often bordered on blind devotion.
People had never even thought in their dreams that the institute for which they have unshakable love would shake their faith and trust when its mask would be removed.
By controlling media and curbing voices, military had always been successful in maintaining its persona of ultimate hero and the undisputed guardian of people. They achieved the goal by producing and supporting various theological and political groups having rivalries against each other. The picture appeared like the political groups and politicians were responsible for the social upheaval and economic turmoil of the country.
Though political involvement of the Army had always been visible but citizens had no issues as they considered it a dire need for the country's prosperity.
Nonetheless, lies do not endure forever. Eventually, the truth emerges, as it did in this case. The facade of unchallenged supremacy that the military upheld shredded rapidly.
The army's involvement in unlawful demolishment of Imran Khan's government was the first step towards the revelation. With the passage of time the black hearts behind golden shields kept on being exposed. The more they tried to save their rapport via force, the more they exposed.
People got to know that military personnel have been he real culprit behind the corruption in the country. The politicians were merely the puppets who would get their share in facilitating the bigger corruption.
The general public realized and accepted that the voices against army's corruption and power misuse in several past years were not accusations but the truth they could not see due to their blind love for the institution.
Over the course of time, the military has got an overwhelming power in all the institutions in the country, from election commission to judiciary, from businesses to media, from foreign policy to security everything, is tightly in their control. No civilian government can take a single step without their approval.
In other words, Pakistan has been directly or indirectly under the rule corrupt dictatorship for several decades.
The illusion of military supremacy has begun to shatter, and the people now see the reality that was long concealed. This awakening marks the first step toward true freedom. Nonetheless, the struggle against this entrenched dictatorship is far from easy, as those in power relentlessly wield their influence to suppress the opposition. However, history has shown that no oppressive rule lasts forever. But the question remains—will the people rise to reclaim their nation, or will history repeat itself once more?”
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This post is my participation for Hl-featured contest week 152 edition 2.
image created by me using Bing AI.