Re: Have we failed as a nation?
Why nations fail?
It is not that their armies do less!
Successful nations' armies do even more than Pakistani army.
Examples of successful" contemporary nations are:
Americans
Germans
French
British
Japanese
Chinese
Russians
and a "blast" from the past
Arabs
Ottomans
Romans
Greeks
Mogals etc.
Look at their histories, and they all had strong armies who at one or more times, went around and utterly destroyed internal resistance.
All these nations at one time or the other, had their bad apple anarchists. And on every such moment of anarchy, their armies got in the act and utterly and absolutely destroyed anyone deemed to be enemy of state.
The result was obvious: A strong and cohesive nation.
In Pakistan, our army is too democratic, that it continues to hope (against hope) that politicians will get their act together and gel this nation together.
Obviously our politicians are neither mature enough nor they have any need or urge to get this nation together where it goes beyond the petty internal differences.
And people in different areas are begging for the internal cohesion in the hands of strong entities. So far the strongest "local" entities are not poltical parties, they instead are militants. So people bow to such 2-bit militants all the time. Case in point: Waziris, Swatis, or some Balochis.
If Pakistan army goes in, and forcefully connects the region by building cantonments, and big highways to transport their ammo, you would see this nation getting itself together.
Peace and love to all
In the name of our slain soldiers and officers,
Pakistan Paindabaad.