Pakistan’s National Security & NIFTH

Talha Ali Kushwaha

Lahore: Security has become paramount these days, and perhaps rightly so because of the global turmoil we are in.  Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and America are all struggling to keep matters of security under control. 

It could be argued security issues were intentionally created by some of the western countries as an obvious result of their foreign policies but now that these concerns are here to stay, we would have to deal with them.  

Since security is most important for a nation, like all other countries we in Pakistan also try to arm ourselves, acquiring all kinds of modern weapons and technologies we believe are the key to our security.  How reassuring it is to know that we have been successful in becoming one of the few countries in the world with a nuclear arsenal and have an incredibly strong army capable of meeting any physical threat to Pakistan’s security.

My father was a general officer of Pakistan Army with a decade long command tenure of the three toughest infantry divisions of Pakistan Army and I know for a fact we have a highly capable and technologically advanced army with more than ample capabilities and resources to meet any threat.

However, we need to ask ourselves if our nuclear deterrent and other advanced weapons are enough by themselves to protect us from the onslaught against everything we stand for.

Pakistan is perhaps the most feared Islamic country by our enemies as they know our immense potential if we ever took it upon ourselves to strike back. If we look at our history, other than their own ulterior motive of control of assets and resources of other countries, it is precisely because of this fear of our enemies of this potential, that we have always been victims of outside intrigues.

Our enemies have always tried to interfere in our internal as well as external matters and quite successfully on most occasions.  We need to ask the question that in all those instances when our enemies were successful, what were the reasons for their success.

We could list a few factors like they effectively used our weak economy and consequential colossal debt to manipulate and bully us. We could mention foreign sponsored terrorism, planned breakdown of law and order and social unrest created by foreign hands.

But if we look at all these issues, the root cause for the success of all these intrigues of our enemies against us is us – if Pakistanis were strong in character and played their role in building a strong nation not complying with the demands of foreign incentives and threats, our enemies would not be able to have successes they have had against us. 

Nation’s Battle Against Terrorism

We must remember that traitors are by definition our enemies within.  DG ISPR rightly pointed out in his recent press briefing that the army fights terrorists but the nation fights terrorism.

National Security is dependent on weapons and technology but primarily on how strong individuals are in character and faith, and resultantly how strong a nation is.  Strong and thinking individuals can easily create strong institutions, formidable defense systems and firm financial foundations to create solid national security, solidarity and national cohesion.

Unfortunately, strong institutions cannot provide strength to the week and the meek and especially not for long.  Weak men and women cannot create anything of substance let alone institutions.  Characterless individuals and babus at best remain a bad copy of their colonial masters unsuccessfully mimicking their colonial idols.

It is only faith, culture and our worldview, which determine how strong we are as individuals, and behind all these elements that bring us strength is our identity.  Our identity brings together these various building blocks which tell us where we came from, why we are here, where we are going and most importantly who we really are. 

If a child is given a meaningful and firm basis for his existence, a sense of how sacred and respectable she/he is and that she/he is destined to be ‘Ashraf ul Makhlooqat’ i.e. Allah’s best creation and a spiritual being, she/he will never astray from the righteous path of loyalty to his country and foremost to the Transcendent.

Lok Virsa: Backbone of Nation-building

Though we all must personally try to do ‘tarbiyat’ that is holistic training and nurturing of our children and youth and give them a sense of their identity, there is also a national institute of Pakistan that was created with this very purpose in mind – the National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (NIFTH), also known as Lok Virsa.

It is the most relevant and the most important institute of Pakistan for all nation-building strategies.  I have reproduced a summary of its mandate to demonstrate its relevance in our nation building endeavors but unfortunately we have so far treated it just as a ‘sarkari mela management company’ and not given it the importance that is essential for building strong roots of our nation. 

Among numerous other crucially important objectives, this institute has the mandate to, “aim at strengthening and nurturing the roots of Pakistan culture and to achieve fundamental objectives regarding its rediscovery and reinterpretation to project the true identity of Pakistan.”

People with confused identities do not have the conviction to do anything with excellence.  They do not have the self respect to respect anyone or anything.  They just carry on in life like ‘zombies’ with nothing to offer, nothing to achieve, nothing to protect, nothing to give and everything to take for themselves.  

If we want to protect a tree, its branches are important but we need to start at its roots.  If we were to take the example of a home, children and family need protection from robbers and murderers, finances to sustain themselves with respect, electricity, gas and water to be functional.

Education With Tarbiyat

They require food, entertainment and education for their physical and mental wellbeing but most of all, they need identity, culture, history and heritage; they need holistic training with the right kind of education more precisely termed ‘education with tarbiyat’. 

The most important function of parents in any household is to bring up children with this ‘tarbiyat’ who are strong, pious, respectful and brave.

For the nation at the institution level, all these elements are to be planned and provided by the NIFTH and even provide training and technical input to Pakistan’s educational institutes including schools and universities.

Furthermore, this Institute also has the mandate to develop Pakistan’s creative industries and carry out economic reforms to strengthen our national economy.  It does not take a rocket scientist to work out the math of how important and significant NIFTH’s role is for Pakistan.  

No other institution of Pakistan can rival NIFTH in its significance for our nation building.  If we are to become strong and refined individuals, and religiously and morally strong Pakistanis with a strong financial and economic base, we need to first start with improving our human resources, making strong individuals with a solid character and faith; entrenched in traditions, culture and heritage; with self respect and consequent respect for others and everything around; the right worldview and holistic development thereby creating internal need for excellence at all levels.

All this can happen only when we get back to our roots, our culture, our heritage and our identity.  As its mandate clearly illustrates, Lok Virsa can help achieve all these objectives if given due respect, importance, competent personnel and enough resources on priority basis.

It is a matter of grave importance of getting our national priorities right, and empowering the Lok Virsa would truly be a real and most important contribution towards strengthening our national security, thus enabling our nation to help Pakistan Army and other security organizations keep our country safe from our enemies within as well as outside Pakistan. 

There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty than ignorance, no greater heritage than culture and no greater support than consultation. Imam Ali AS

Talha Ali Kushwaha is a Cultural Specialist, Professor of Culture and History, writer on culture, history, and art, as well as a musician, film and multimedia artist, cultural and historical researcher, songwriter, scriptwriter, and voice-over artist. He is the former Executive Director and Board Member of Pakistan’s National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage.