By April Robertson

Miran Gichki is a political science major from Pakistan. On Nov. 12, there was a suicide bombing in Pakistan against the International Services of Intelligence, and 32 people were killed as a result.

Gichki shares his view of the source of trouble and how to rid the nation of it.

Pakistan is in the transition to democracy, but Gichki believes it is far from a resolution of any kind.

“Our representative organizations are weak,” he said. “When they are, nationalism can grow.”

Gichki thinks that will leave little room for democracy as the military controls almost everything. The weakness of those organizations is linked prominently to religion and propaganda.

To improve the political situation of Pakistan, Gichki said, “It is up to the people to (ensure) mass political participation. It rules out the military and the elite.”

The main problem is that people who stand up for their rights are labeled “traitors,” he said.

Pakistan is a nation with the sole purpose to have national unity, and this is the main goal of propaganda. To reach that unity, religion becomes the scapegoat.

“Pakistan used to be part of India … so we have five major ethnicities, but one main religion,” he said. “Religion is the only common point; otherwise, we are totally different people.”

As a result, the propaganda is centered on Islam, and Gichki finds that too many people add to the constant atmosphere of jihad against the former Soviet states and against India. “It has raised religion above all (other things) and is brainwashing everyone,” he said.

Gichki finds it hard to believe that Pakistan has taken little blame for supporting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the nine years that the United States has been at war.

“(Pakistanis) usually blame the U.S. for the Taliban’s formation, but I think the state is to blame,” he said. “The truth is that Pakistan held the ropes for everything going on in Afghanistan.”

Gichki came to that conclusion because Pakistan had been a safe haven for the Taliban for so many years, but when the U.S. left the area, Pakistan supported those groups even more.

He felt that both the U.S. and Pakistan are to be equally blamed because they were using people and exploiting them against India.

Gichki suggested reforms for the International Services of Intelligence and for the military because, “Elections are a façade for order … the military controls even the ‘civilian’ government.

“Once the transition to democracy is fully made and the representative organizations are more stable, people can have more power,” Gichki said.