Pakistan: An independent state or a neo-colony

by Rameez Rahgeb

 ”As long as imperialism exists it will, by definition, exert its domination over other countries. Today that domination is called neocolonialism”. The current situation of Pakistan shows that foreign non-government organizations are expanding their influence; companies are hiring private armies that are known for brutal actions and US diplomats are arriving regularly to keep a check and balance on us. This all points out that Pakistan has lost its independence that we celebrate so dearly on the 14th of August each year, in fact it has become a neo-colony.

 There are many factors which determine the extent of freedom any country posses. These include the mentality of people, whether they have the urge to advance and progress or do they give other nations leadership. Secondly, the politics of the country are run by leaders who represent their people or follow other’s dictate. Another significant factor is the economical stability of the country and finally, the ability of the country to defend whenever its writ is challenged.

 One can, by looking through history, see that Pakistan made the grave mistake of inviting a colonial power in its borders. In the 1950s, the world was spinning around two super powers, namely U.S.A and U.S.S.R. Pakistan chose to befriend U.S.A, when in 1951, Liaquat Ali Khan, the then president of the newly born state, visited U.S.A rather than U.S.S.R. Thus it allied with a capitalist world power, which by ideology is derived towards imperialism. Vladimir Lenin puts it these words, “imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism.” Thus such pacts and bills were designed, which put Pakistan in direct control of foreign powers. The SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organization) and CENTO (Central Treaty Organization) were two such pacts Pakistan signed which increased US influence in the region. Pakistan was used as US base for secret flights in Soviet Union. Yet, Pakistan, in return just got disappointment when USA backed from sending naval troops to control the Bangladeshi uprising. Eventually, Pakistan lost part of its land. The reliance of Pakistan on a superpower to control its internal affairs proves that Pakistan was unable to handle the crisis independently. Therefore it can be said that Pakistan invited imperial powers itself, which now have established such firm roots here that are difficult to get free from.

 Pakistan is economically enslaved. Firstly, its currency is dependent on dollar rather than some real monetary value such as gold and silver which may stabilize the currency, thus any rise and fall in the dollar automatically affects Pakistani currency, the Rupee. Secondly, Pakistan’s exports comprise of mainly textile and agriculture. It is led to produce such goods rather than industrial goods and inventing technology due to copyright laws and trade embargo on certain type of goods. That ensures Pakistan will remain importing machinery on heavy loans, conditions and interests will never become self sufficient. Indirectly this puts Pakistan under the control of foreign powers, as it has to rely on them to run its industry and therefore complies with their demands. A good example of it is the fact that, cotton industry is the biggest of Pakistan, yet it is still unable to build machines which make thread from cotton, and has to import them.

  Another way to analyze the economic dependency of Pakistan is through the large amount of loan and aid it has to pay. This loan comes with conditions and is given mainly for such purposes which serve the donor and does not make the receiver independent. And if the debt is not paid on time this can lead to trade embargo, which may destroy a country’s entire economy. Susan George describes this phenomena that “Debt is such a powerful tool, it is such a useful tool, it’s much better than colonialism ever was because you can keep control without having an army, without having a whole administration.” The aid offered to Pakistan through recent Kerry-Lugar bill is one such example. The IMF (international monetary fund) and World Bank are known for their exploitation of debtor countries like parts of Africa. According to statistics published in “The news international” newspaper Pakistan has taken a total loan of US$ 11.3 billion from both till now.

 Also, Important is the penetration of multinationals and privatization of government assets in Pakistan also contribute to economic slavery as the multinationals always give their profits priority over well being of the country and can hold back on assets to push in policies which they want; like “the buying of oil fields in Baluchistan by multinationals”, means that they can at anytime they want, disrupt petroleum supply or increase prices if they want. These facts are enough to show any sane person that assets of Pakistan are actually in controlled by foreign investors, and Pakistan’s  economic policy is mainly affected by international restrictions and designed to fulfill needs of others rather than to improve its own status.

 In the defense sector, we can say judge the independence of a country by looking at its response to attacks on the state, and the independence within the army in selection of people for different posts. As for the second part, historically we can see that there has been a trend in army to encourage US influence in the country. The first chief of army staff was a Briton, so naturally people in army which sided with west were upgraded. Secondly, Field Marshall Ayub Khan, signed SEATO and CENTO presenting Pakistan to the colonial powers. Then, during Gen. Zia-ul-Haq’s reign we fought Afghan jihad, which helped USA to become the only super power in the world. So we can see that all army policies have been in line with the US interests and it is common knowledge that promotion is Pakistani forces is not done without US consent. It is also seen that the writ of the government has been challenged several times by drone attacks and harassment of the public at the hands of private militia such as “Black Water”. News in “The Nation” on Nov. 4th reported arrival of 202 of “Black Water” men. They were granted access without checking their luggage. On all such events, our forces have done nothing to retaliate, which shows clearly that the integrity and freedom of Pakistan has been lost.

 The mentality of the people of Pakistan can be observed by the fact that the once slogan for people “Pakistan zindabad( long live Pakistan)” now evolved into “Pakistan sai zinda

bhag (let’s leave Pakistan while still alive).” This shows that the people are unhappy with the country. The youth has been granted less opportunities and lacks quality education and universities, thus it looks for scope outside Pakistan, resulting in brain drain from the country. It has been mainly shown the flowery side of the west, by our media, thus it gives leadership to the west and dreams of abandoning the country. This has resulted in the nation becoming intellectual slaves of others.

The political arena of our country is also led by others. Its proof is that both the government and major opposition party remained unusually quite and even supported Kerry-Lugar bill, which permits US to reach our nuclear assets and impose severe conditions on army. The US government personal and high command visit Pakistan on regular basis and meet with politicians here. Their purpose here can be nothing else other than gaining their own interest in the region. In addition to this, the construction of the biggest US embassy in Islamabad, arrival of US marines, and expansion of their air bases depict that Pakistan has been sold out.

 Some people may disagree with me and point out that Pakistan can not do much about these policies which are being imposed on it. It is a developing country and cannot live without loans. It is not currently much strong to react to US drones. But we have seen that many other countries have rejected to bow in front of these imperial powers, such as Venezuela, Vietnam, North Korea and Iran. These countries may have suffered but their suffering was short lived, they did not suffer from slow poisoning as Pakistan will endure if it does not stand against imperialism. Kwame Nkrumah said “We prefer self-government with danger to servitude in tranquility.”

 There remains no doubt that Pakistan is just a disguised colony of the West. Ranging from education policy to media, defense system to politics, all is run by foreign hands. This was clearly seen when by just one phone call from White House, warning that a negative answer will lead to Pakistan returning to Stone Age; lead Pakistan to jump into this US war against terrorism. Pakistan has lost thousands of civilian and soldier lives along with loss of infra structure by suicide bombs, and is still suffering after nine years have passed since war commenced.

Work Cited

1: Guevara, Che. “Neocolonialism”. Neocolonialism – Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia. 13 November 2009. 16 Nov. 2009< http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocolonialism>

 2: Lenin, Valadimir. Imperialism Quotes. brainymedia.com.16 November  2009< http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/imperialism.html>

 3: George Susan, Colonialism Quotes. brainymedia.com. 16 Nov 2009 http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/colonialism.html>

   4: The Nation, 4th November,2009 (http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Politics/04-Nov-2009/202-Blackwater-personnel-arrive)

5: Nkrumah Kwame (http://www.memorablequotations.com/nkrumah.htm)

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