Pakistan in the 2020s: Complicated History Haunts Its Present and the Future

Abstract

Bilal Zahoor, in his introduction to Rethinking Pakistan: A 21st Century Perspective, refers to a statement from Jinnah in February 1948 in terms of the nature of the State and the role of religion and clerics. He quotes Jinnah: ‘Pakistan is not going to be a theocratic State, that is rule of or by priests with divine mission. We have many non-Muslims such as Hindus, Christians, Parsis. But, they are all Pakistanis and equal citizens with equal rights and privileges and every right to play their part in the affairs of Pakistan nationals State’ (Zahoor & Rumi, 2019). Seven decades later, where is Pakistan today? Do the last seven decades provide a glimpse of Pakistan’s present, and how the next few decades would emerge?