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A tale of two Tatas – The Express Tribune By Arif Rafiq
Nestled in the green valleys of
Waziristan are factories that build
small, innovative bombs that are used
to kill civilians, power brokers and
security personnel in Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
In Miran Shah, Mir Ali and Makeen, one will find what is probably
the worlds greatest concentration of terrorist organisations incubators
for the worlds next great ****** start- ups.
In the Gujarat city of Chharoti,
2,000 miles southeast, is a factory building the worlds smallest car, the Tata Nano, a no-frills entry vehicle for the developing worlds new entrants
to the middle class. These factories
exist in the same subcontinent and
their people share historical and civil
ties.
But these two areas, these two
Tatas the Taliban-Administered Tribal Areas and the Tata-driven India
Inc might as well exist in two
separate worlds. Perception is reality and so for all
intents and purposes, these two sub-
communities are a part of two different
worlds: the former being part of what
geo-strategist Thomas Barnett calls the non-integrating gap (places that resist global interconnectedness and
do not assimilate to the systems
norms) and the new functioning
core (places that have joined the old
core in economic interconnectedness
and play by the systems rules).
By Waziristan, I am referring not to the
native civilian population but to the
nexus of local and non-local militants.
It is completely unfair to use Waziristan
to represent Pakistan as a whole but
that is the way the world sees it.
Moreover, militant-occupied Waziristan
is pulling Pakistan away from the
global functioning core. This
distancing is amplified by both a
hyper-nationalism in urban areas that
focuses on grievance at the cost of responsibility on how Pakistan has
been wronged by the world, instead
of how it can make the world right
and an obscurant conservatism that
has closed the Pakistani mind.
In the same vein, India Inc.s
achievements mask the dark reality
that confronts the countrys majority.
Left behind by corrupt governance
and growing social inequity is India
Stink, the India that many conveniently choose to ignore.
It is the
India where 65 per cent of the population lacks access to improved
sanitation (compared with 52 per cent in Pakistan), the India where 50 per
cent of the population practises open
defecation (double the rate of
Pakistan) and the India that is tied
with Pakistan for the lowest life
expectancy in South Asia (excluding Afghanistan).
Indias strengths should not be
allowed to mask its weaknesses. The reverse is also true.
It would be a mistake for Pakistanis to dismiss Indias ambitious and accomplished
business and intellectual elite. They are brand ambassadors for their country.
They now have a seat at the
expanding global club of rule-making.
And though its not quite a front-row
seat, at least, theyve got admission. Pakistani elites dont fare quite well in
comparison. They are given temporary
admission because they are seen as
courageous outliers in a country gone mad.
At home, they tend to be viewed
with great suspicion. Theyre generally dismissed as traitors who are part of
an anti-Pakistan conspiracy.
Something as simple as photos of
them in Davos or Washington can
serve as the smoking gun. But it is
these individuals who can help fight the perception, the unfortunate andinaccurate contrast of incredible India
and pathetic Pakistan and India the
integrator and Pakistan the pariah.
Pakistan needs to develop an elite
body that can speak the global
language, partake in elite
conversation and yet, have organic
connections to their country. There is a global governance system to be shaped.
Power dynamics are shifting.
Ongoing and emerging challenges
need to be confronted. Pakistanis
must generate voices that can shape
the debate on the evolution of
collective security, conflict intervention, sustainable development
and a host of other issues.
Those who join the super-elite, as Chrystia Freeland describes, tend to become trapped in a self-contained
bubble. But the danger of producing
rootless cosmopolitans without
attachment to the homeland should be
no reason for self-isolation; rather, it
should provide motivation to pioneer in making exceptions to the rule.
Published in
The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2012.
Nestled in the green valleys of
Waziristan are factories that build
small, innovative bombs that are used
to kill civilians, power brokers and
security personnel in Pakistan and
Afghanistan.
In Miran Shah, Mir Ali and Makeen, one will find what is probably
the worlds greatest concentration of terrorist organisations incubators
for the worlds next great ****** start- ups.
In the Gujarat city of Chharoti,
2,000 miles southeast, is a factory building the worlds smallest car, the Tata Nano, a no-frills entry vehicle for the developing worlds new entrants
to the middle class. These factories
exist in the same subcontinent and
their people share historical and civil
ties.
But these two areas, these two
Tatas the Taliban-Administered Tribal Areas and the Tata-driven India
Inc might as well exist in two
separate worlds. Perception is reality and so for all
intents and purposes, these two sub-
communities are a part of two different
worlds: the former being part of what
geo-strategist Thomas Barnett calls the non-integrating gap (places that resist global interconnectedness and
do not assimilate to the systems
norms) and the new functioning
core (places that have joined the old
core in economic interconnectedness
and play by the systems rules).
By Waziristan, I am referring not to the
native civilian population but to the
nexus of local and non-local militants.
It is completely unfair to use Waziristan
to represent Pakistan as a whole but
that is the way the world sees it.
Moreover, militant-occupied Waziristan
is pulling Pakistan away from the
global functioning core. This
distancing is amplified by both a
hyper-nationalism in urban areas that
focuses on grievance at the cost of responsibility on how Pakistan has
been wronged by the world, instead
of how it can make the world right
and an obscurant conservatism that
has closed the Pakistani mind.
In the same vein, India Inc.s
achievements mask the dark reality
that confronts the countrys majority.
Left behind by corrupt governance
and growing social inequity is India
Stink, the India that many conveniently choose to ignore.
It is the
India where 65 per cent of the population lacks access to improved
sanitation (compared with 52 per cent in Pakistan), the India where 50 per
cent of the population practises open
defecation (double the rate of
Pakistan) and the India that is tied
with Pakistan for the lowest life
expectancy in South Asia (excluding Afghanistan).
Indias strengths should not be
allowed to mask its weaknesses. The reverse is also true.
It would be a mistake for Pakistanis to dismiss Indias ambitious and accomplished
business and intellectual elite. They are brand ambassadors for their country.
They now have a seat at the
expanding global club of rule-making.
And though its not quite a front-row
seat, at least, theyve got admission. Pakistani elites dont fare quite well in
comparison. They are given temporary
admission because they are seen as
courageous outliers in a country gone mad.
At home, they tend to be viewed
with great suspicion. Theyre generally dismissed as traitors who are part of
an anti-Pakistan conspiracy.
Something as simple as photos of
them in Davos or Washington can
serve as the smoking gun. But it is
these individuals who can help fight the perception, the unfortunate andinaccurate contrast of incredible India
and pathetic Pakistan and India the
integrator and Pakistan the pariah.
Pakistan needs to develop an elite
body that can speak the global
language, partake in elite
conversation and yet, have organic
connections to their country. There is a global governance system to be shaped.
Power dynamics are shifting.
Ongoing and emerging challenges
need to be confronted. Pakistanis
must generate voices that can shape
the debate on the evolution of
collective security, conflict intervention, sustainable development
and a host of other issues.
Those who join the super-elite, as Chrystia Freeland describes, tend to become trapped in a self-contained
bubble. But the danger of producing
rootless cosmopolitans without
attachment to the homeland should be
no reason for self-isolation; rather, it
should provide motivation to pioneer in making exceptions to the rule.
Published in
The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2012.
