British-Pakistani film and theater producer Anwar Akhtar reflects on Pakistan's 75th anniversary of independence and the recent flooding that has devasted large parts of the country
I want to start this article by congratulating Pakistan for reaching 75 years of independence. I also wish the people of India and Bangladesh the very best as they also mark freedom from the exploitation, cruelty, and violence of the British Raj.
Pakistan is a difficult, challenging, complex country to work in. Suppose I have learned one thing from many years of work and several major projects between Pakistan and Europe. In that case, it is to work with the institutions, organizations, and NGOs that function and just about prevent Pakistan from becoming a failed state despite, at times, the efforts of the Pakistani establishment and Western foreign policy.
Many welfare and education groups such as the Edhi Foundation, the Citizens Foundation, Human Rights Commission Pakistan, Simorgh Women's Welfare Project, Azad Street Children Welfare, Care Pakistan, and Citizens Archive Project work tirelessly to alleviate poverty and provide education, health, and justice for some of the poorest, most exploited people on the planet.
I have just spent a few weeks in Pakistan, working with Ajoka Theatre to help put on a peace concert in Lahore (watch below).
With the 75th anniversary of independence on my mind, I asked Shahid Nadeem, writer, and director of Ajoka, for his thoughts about the legacy of Partition.
"The creation of Pakistan in 1947 was accompanied by unprecedented migration of millions of Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindus on communal grounds," he told me.
"Exodus of Hindu artists and performers was a big setback for the development of art and culture in Pakistan. This was further compounded by the imposition of an 'Islamic ideology of Pakistan.' Pakistani artists and writers were censored, banned, persecuted, demonized, imprisoned, but they braved these challenges and continued high-quality and socially meaningful art.
"As the 75th anniversary of Pakistan's independence was an important occasion to reflect on the achievements and challenges faced by cultural activists in the past 75 years, we decided to have an event titled '75 Years of Cultural Resilience' and invited scholars, artists, and performers to pay tribute to artists and cultural activists who suffered censorship, bans, persecution, and imprisonment but steadfastly carried on their creative struggle."
One of the main reasons for Pakistan's disastrous social and economic situation today is that its establishment remains stuck in a Dr Strangelove zero-sum cold war with India.
In April 2021, I wrote an article outlining 10 reasons for peace between the two countries, covering some of the many challenges the two countries face from poverty to the climate crisis.
No amount of tub-thumping nationalism, flag-waving, and arguments about which religion is supreme and which is indigenous can cover just how awful the social, welfare, health, and education situation is today in Pakistan and India.
Sadly, India prime minister Narendra Modi seems set to follow the mistakes made by the Pakistani establishment and seek to define India by one majority religion while turning on minority communities, a recipe for endless conflicts about the past and the present. Recently, Anish Kapoor, a Turner Prize winner celebrated and lauded in India, described his own fears for the direction in which India is heading, which I'd recommend reading for further insight.
Pakistan's animosity toward India is actually a fear of India. India shares the same fear as Pakistan. Unfortunately, both countries' leaderships seem unable to bridge the divides and heal any of the hurt, animosity, and trust deficits between the countries, the legacy of Partition 75 years on.
This legacy extends to Afghanistan, a proxy battleground between India and Pakistan fed, like Kashmir, by the rivalry and bitterness between the two countries. The conflicts in Afghanistan and Kashmir will not stop until both countries make peace and understand that neither side can win this cold and, at times, hot war that curses the region to a cycle of endless violence, poverty, and instability.
Any sane person with knowledge of South Asia knows that until there is peace between India and Pakistan, the region cannot stabilize and face the challenges of poverty, education, health, and climate change.
Last month, more than 33 million people, or one in seven Pakistanis, were – and continue to be - affected by catastrophic flooding. Half a million displaced people are living in organized camps, and many others have had to find their own shelter. Hundreds of thousands of houses were destroyed, leaving millions homeless.
Pakistani officials estimate around $10bn worth of damage, raising concerns about food shortages with crops wiped out. The Pakistani state lacks the infrastructure to provide for its poor, the majority of its population. These floods, caused by climate change, may make the regional tensions worse, as Pakistan and India compete for natural resources rather than share and trade together.
After World War Two, the great Western powers laid the groundwork for decades of peace and prosperity in Europe via the Marshall Plan. It speaks to the racism of the West, where leaders prioritise short-term trade and malevolent Kissinger-style maneuvers in the region, as well as the failure of leadership in Pakistan and now, sadly in India, that to even call for such a plan for South Asia, seems an act of hope and optimism over reality.
The UN's admirable Sustainable Development Goals are just a vision – a hope detached from the reality of what's happening in India and Pakistan.
So, I live in hope and will keep working with those seeking peace between India and Pakistan. I do so because we cannot curse another generation in both countries and in their huge diasporas to grow up with sectarian tensions, wondering when, if ever, there can be good relations and peace between us.
Anwar Akhtar is a Salzburg Global Fellow. He is also the founder and director of The Samosa, a UK arts and journalism charity that works to embed diversity in the arts and humanities curriculum in schools, colleges and universities, and produces arts and media that explores cultural and social issues.
