Understanding Pakistan

March 29 2008

Every Tuesday in Chico State’s Holt building, room 170, students, faculty and guest meet for the International Forum. Hosted by Professor Steve Lewis, this forum serves as a cultural center where you can listen to and interact with various professors from around the campus. All topics are international in nature and open for discussion. This past Tuesday Religious Studies professor Mahan Mirza gave a lecture on “Understanding Pakistan”. In light of current global and political events it seemed a good idea to further educate myself on the country of Pakistan.

Although I’ve briefly studied the religious environment of Pakistan in a Religious Studies course, “Christianity, Judaism and Islam,” where I learned about the mystic Sufism tradition of Islam, of which Pakistan is heavily influenced. I must admit that most of my knowledge on Pakistan comes from Western media sources, a lens that, as of late, tends to focus on the uncommon and threatening aspects of particular foreign cultures.

Professor Mirza lectured on the demographics and diverse geography of the region, as well as the historical, political, and social climate of the country of Pakistan. I think if you were to stop an American on the street of non-Asian decent, and ask them if Pakistan was in the Middle East, they would answer “yes.” However, Pakistan is a South Asian nation, and while it is culturally Muslim this does not make it inherently culturally Middle Eastern. This is because the largest population of Muslims is located in South Asia.

Pakistan’s geographic neighbors are Afghanistan, Iran, China and India. It is surrounded by some heavy hitters in global politics making the political climate in the nation one of self-defense. This is important to note when one considers the political pressure the United States has placed on Pakistan as an ally in the War on Terror. It is crucial to recognize the very delicate backyard situation this nation faces when dealing with its’ people. Professor Mirza spoke of Pakistan’s perpetual position of crises management. Sharing extremely long boarders with India to the east and Afghanistan to the west, governmental leadership in Pakistan is continually planning for and trying to avoid the two front scenario. This coupled with the fact that these boarders split traditional tribal lands means that many American’s over-simplify the delicate nature of Pakistan’s Political climate.

Mirza also spoke on the “global miss-image” of Pakistan’s social climate. Referring to articles in Newsweek and National Geographic, he attempted to adjust the perception of Pakistan and a country wedged between moderate and militant Islamic views. He countered the image of a covered head bent women, seen in National Geographic, with that of female cricket players and a female fighter pilot. His analogy, “what would America look like to a foreigner if it where analyzed through the lens of college age female rape statistics.” This is a very interesting point, one that hits home when you sitting in a university lecture hall. When statistics state that one in five female college students has been forced into sexual intercourse (Douglas, K.A. et al. (1997). Results from the 1995 national college health risk behavior survey. Journal of American College Health, 46, 55-66).

All in all, I really enjoyed Professor Mirza’s lecture and discussion on Pakistan. My knowledge on the Nation and region was greatly increased. Especially in recognizing that the region is much more complicated than many of us think. It is crucial that we start thinking of other nations social and political climates as being every bit as complicated as our own. Disregarding the complexity of history and subsequent societies has been a major flaw in our nations’ people for far too long. Unlike the histories and societies we’re dealing with, the solution is actually rather simple: Learn, Travel, Educate. This is the goal of the International Forum, and Professor Mahan Mirza did an excellent job of doing just that.