veeru_rocks Posted February 18, 2009 Posted February 18, 2009 Irfan Hussein speculates on the challenges which face this country in future years as part of Dawn.com's launch special 'Flash-forward Pakistan: where do we go from here?' Growing up in Karachi in the 1950s and 1960s, a common phrase I heard was that Pakistan was still in its infancy. And one common headline in those days was: ‘Pakistan at the crossroads.’ Well, we can hardly claim to be a new nation at the age of 62, although we still have not moved past those wretched crossroads. If anything, the fissures are growing wider, and more fault-lines are opening up. Many people have held forth in print and on television as to how we got to where we are. Over the years, I too have tried to analyse the reasons for our dysfunctional status many times. At the risk of boring readers with more of the same, I do believe that unless we understand the cause of our malady, there can be no future cure. Somebody once observed: ‘First, we said we cannot live with the Hindus, and we want Pakistan. Then, we said we cannot live with the Bengalis, and forced them to create Bangladesh. Next, we said Ahmadis are not Muslims. Now we are saying Shias are not Muslims. Where will this process end?’ http://dawn.net/wps/wcm/connect/Dawn%20Content%20Library/dawn/news/pakistan/a-fragmented-polity--il
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