If you read Qudratullah Shahab’s autobiography “Shahab nama” - he has given a distinct(if at times biased from a Kashmiri perspective) account of a lot of what transpired within the corridors of power. From the near mad man Ghulam Mohammad to how “Zulfi” played everyone to get to where he needed. Then Ayub Khan’s biases and everything else. Combine that with Fatima Jinnah’s book and how even before he died the Quaid realized the sort of vultures that surrounded him and controlled most of the ML and Pakistan will have seemed doomed before its inception.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a great man - as humanly flawed yet brilliant and if I am ever worthy enough to be mercifully given a good afterlife then it would be another blessing to know that he was granted the highest level of Jannah.. but the people that surrounded him and the people that used his picture on the wall behind their desk or that claim to be part of the gift god gave them - they deserve nothing but contempt.
Ayub Khan laid the foundation of ruin for what had the potential to be one of the finest fighting forces in the world - but he wasn’t alone, helped along by the like of others in bureaucracy, military and then that impact went onto Bhutto and then Zia. The Army didn’t create the quota system nor naturalize industries - Bhutto did - but proper corruption did not set into the military until Zia took over.
At the end, it wasn’t about uniform or not - the gene pool that is Pakistan had a cultural and social rot which was ripe for external manipulation yes but at the end it was nobody’s fault but Pakistanis themselves. When the farm’s soil is bad and the farmer is lax - the crop will be diseased and full of weeds. In such a landscape, no flowers will spring and even those that do like Edhi, like Dr. Hasan Rizvi , Ashfaq Ahmed sb or like Captain Sher Khan.. get drowned under the weeds or get picked for greener pastures.
Meanwhile, spit shiners continue to show off the farmer’s rusted rifles and brick road as achievements as locusts continue to eat away.
Anyway, enough of the musings… Pakistanis should say Inshallah and sit back and relax.