Founding Fathers' Vision

Our Founding Fathers’ Vision represents our envisaged way of life. Can we be deemed good Pakistanis without knowing the raison d’etre of our nation as defined by the founders of our state? Obviously not! It is an irony that most of us have probably not read the pre-requisites defined by the Quaid, by Iqbal and most of all by the Holy Prophet (PBUH).We must in the end, derive our Common Identity, National Purpose and National Interests out of these very documents. This document has been put together to help remove this discrepancy. We have chronologically put together these documents for the benefit of all Pakistanis.

• Are we a nation?

• Do we have the right Common Identity or National Purpose?

• Are we espousing the correct national and personal values?

• Are we going to survive through the 21st century?

• Why are all and sundry conspiring against Pakistan?

• Why are Pakistanis killing one another?

At least some of the answers lie in correcting the fault lines in our nationhood. A nation as per universal paradigms starts from its Common Identity; National Purpose and National interests. While the first two are perennial, the third is the next permanent in time and space. These in turn must be derived from the FFV. Once defined correctly and made the belief of the nation, all National Security and Public Policies must be derived out of these three sets of values. We have named the values to various articles of these documents. We request our readers to critically reflect on the same if they represent ideas that can give us the right strategic focus to make us secure. We need to evolve a consensus on these values. To this end, we have put together the following questions for you to answer.

DEFINITION

• Common/ National Identity: Who we were and are today e.g. Central Asians or Arab Descendents or Pakistani Pakistan.

• Common/ National purpose: What we wish to be i.e. shared values and beliefs (e.g. equality, liberty, fraternity)

• National Interests: Continuing ends for which a nation exists.

• The Magna Carta: The Great Charter.

• Pluralism: The existence of groups with different ethnic, religious, or political backgrounds within one society.

• Constitutionalism: A political system in which several states or regions defer some powers, e.g. in foreign affairs, to a central government while retaining a limited measure of self-government.

• Internationalism: A policy or spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding between countries.

• Joint Electorates: Same candidates for Muslims and minorities.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

All documents are original to the best of our ability. Readers are requested to suggest any corrections. All articles have been annotated with values to emphasize possible National Security options.

QUESTIONS:

1. Are these valid ideas to put our nationhood together?

2. Can we define our National Identity, Purpose and Vital National Interests out of these values?

3. Would you like to add more documents in this list?

4. Don't the first five documents give us the values of equality, liberty and fraternity that Rousseau and Voltaire discovered in the 18th century?

5. Should these not become a part of our syllabi?

6. The US National purpose is that all citizens are to work for and achieve three rights for every American: the right to life, the right to liberty and right to pursue happiness.What is or should be our National Purpose?