Colonization and independence

 

_Muhammad Abrar

August 14, 2022

 

Freedom is an alienable right of any nation because a slave nation doesn’t have any identity even. Pakistan is celebrating its 75^th independence day today. The day allows us to analyze our journey of “independence” with a critical lens so that we can realize what it means to be an independent nation. The importance of daylight can be realized only when one encounters haunting darkness. That’s why it is crucial to trace the era of slavery that we underwent to acquire an independent land.

 

The land of Pakistan, along with that of India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, etc, was once the colony of the British Empire. The British came here at a time when the subcontinent was producing 23% GDP of the world. Its wealth was so immense that the traders named it “The Golden Sparrow". East India Company established a trade relationship with the subcontinent but soon we witnessed British forces attacking the subcontinent. And due to the strong military power of the British, and the presence of traitors in the Mughal court, Bengal was occupied in 1757; Sindh in 1843; and Punjab in 1849.  The British Raj controlled the whole subcontinent soon after The War of Independence in 1857.

Unlike the Mughals who came here and worked for the benefit of the locals; the British started exploiting the land and people of the region: local industries, i.e., cotton and iron, were destroyed, and agricultural production declined because heavy taxes were imposed on farmers; trade was curbed to the extent that exports came to zero due to heavy duties and low-quality products of England were forcefully imported and sold. Millions of lives were lost due to more than two scores of famines during the 200 years of the British colonization.

Those who resisted the Empire were brutally treated: Ulema scholars were hanged on trees, men were massacred in the protests, women were raped, trains were burnt, and the houses were set on fire. Communal clashes among Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs erupted due to the “Divide and Rule” policy of the Raj.

Meanwhile, the Empire altered the whole institutional structure of the colony. Educational setup was introduced in 1835; indigenous languages were replaced by foreign languages; capitalism was introduced; wealth was transformed to the island; Muhammadan Criminal law was replaced with British Criminal law in 1828, and the whole mechanism of security and bureaucracy was also replaced.

But now, the British Empire had started crumbling due to massive spending on two great wars. Moreover, the British also faced extreme resistance from the movements including Civil Disobedience Movement, Tehreek e Deoband, Khilafat Movement, Tehreek-e-Reshmi Romal, etc. America had emerged as the world superpower while Britain was under heavy debt. In the wake of the threat posed by the Soviet Union, the USA found ample opportunity to divide the land to counter the Soviet growing influence in the region. Hence, in 1947 the British left the subcontinent physically but it left behind a class of feudal landlords and elite class which worked for the vested interests of the colonizers.

Today, Pakistan is standing at a point where the economy has crumbled_ soaring inflation, declining foreign exchange reserves, low GDP_ Agriculture, industry, and trade are yielding no sounding progress; governmental institutions including the legislature, executive, and judiciary work for only a handful of elites who have power and wealth; our social system is too poor to provide equal opportunities of progress to every citizen; education system is not meeting the contemporary progress; the foreign policy has witnessed a grave failure in the form of toxic relations with the neighboring countries and our leadership is still caught in the evils of corruption and nepotism.

Therefore, the day demands us to analyze the current abysmal state of the country with a critical approach. We must understand that one stage of freedom has successfully been achieved by kicking out colonizers from the land, but the second stage of sustaining that progress is yet to be achieved. It is our duty not to be swayed by the politics of non-issues and to work for the prosperity of the country with a genial spirit.