Another speaker Shuja Nawaz (Atlantic Council) told the audience about his long association with the late journalist and said that Khalid Hasan was his mentor. Recalling Khalid Hasan’s style of writing, he said he would miss Khalid. “With him gone who is going to tweak the haughty, poseurs, and who will challenge the hypocrites on a daily basis.”

He added that he shared one thing with Khalid Hasan which is optimism about the possibility of Pakistan and suggested that it could the title of Professor Stehpen Cohen’s next book. Disagreeing with the last sentence of Professor Stephen’s book The Idea of Pakistan, he recommended that the first sentence of the professor’s next book should be “Only Pakistanis can get Pakistan right.”

“It’s not for the United States or it’s not for the world to prescribe what Pakistan can and should do. If Pakistan is to survive and if it is to grow, it is to become a part of the critical region of the world which is probably going to be the engine of economic growth in Asia and perhaps in the world, then Pakistan must get it right,” Shuja commented.

Referring to the Atlantic Council’s report (issued the same day: February 25, 2009), Shuja Nawaz informed the gathering that Pakistan has the ability to get if it is given the right tools and assistance for the long haul. He said the report also indicates that the desired development and growth is possible if the relationship is built between Pakistan’s friends across the globe and people of Pakistan instead of a single entity, individual or party.

He added that the announcement of upcoming bill (Kerry-Lugar Bill) in the US Congress is good news for a long-term relationship. He remarked that we in the Washington community get caught up in the short-term policy that detracts from looking over the horizon to see what’s possible.

Analyzing the administrative structure of governance in Pakistan, Shuja Nawaz (Atlantic Council) suggested that instead of having a centrally controlled country dominated by one party, one entity, or one province there should be some balance. “Indeed perhaps with right kind of leadership we could muster support for the subdivision of the current four provinces to perhaps even 16 provinces.” 

He added it will help create a much more balanced entity which has been the cause of much of political grief over the last 62 years.

As for the civil-military relations, he commented that the current imbalance favors the military because it is an organized institution in the country dominates foreign policy, defense policy, and increasingly the ideological discussions about the future of the country. “This really needs to be re-balanced in favor of civil society.” He also remarked that the military needs to withdraw from the economic sphere and let the market forces take Pakistan where it truly belongs among the leading growing economies of the world.

He also pointed out that shifting demographics should be looked at in the country as the trend is toward urbanization and added that if the new statistics come in it would appear predominantly an urban society.

Shuja told the gathering that traditionally inner cities have been the home of conservative masses. “So we have to recognize that Pakistan is increasingly going to be conservative state with ritualistic form religion playing a very large role unless and until Pakistan changes its educational system and provides education on a much wider basis than is currently available.”

Shuja said the good thing of Pakistan’s urbanization is that it might allow a new kind of politics. He said as an optimist he looks at the MQM, without its cult aspect, as a model for the urban-based political parties.

As for the media’s role, he commented that they play a major role but they could also be very disruptive force and added that media in Pakistan are very young. “Professionalism that is demanded in reporting and carefully measuring what you are saying and reporting not just in news but also in analysis is sometimes lacking.” Shuja remarked that the media need to have an informed debate in the society.

He said India-Pakistan relationship should not be a chess game. There needs to be a recognition that future economic growth of both India and Pakistan, and other countries in the region depend on trade and commerce between these countries. “Once you establish these vested interested groups on both sides of the border between India and Pakistan it will become much harder for governments, whether civil or military, to create a conflict between these countries.”

He emphasized that in the long run Pakistan needs to try and establish a pluralistic society that Mohammad Ali Jinnah thought of when he brought Pakistan into being. “A society that recognizes different religions and creeds and that does not try and impose one sect’s or one ethnic group’s views on another so that it is no longer seen as a Punjabi dominated country or dominated by any other language group.”

Shuja Nawaz suggested that Pakistan needs to become a country that relies on its rich mosaic of component parts to succeed as a political entity and which is truly blessed by a position on the globe where its geography is its destiny. “It is not going to escape from that region and it has to serve as a bridge between Central Asia, Western Asia, and South Asia,” he added.