Why hasn't Pakistan had an uprising like other countries?

[KhyberKhan]

Quite strange when you think about it.

Pakistan as a nation mirrors a lot of the countries that have gone through a transition this year by removing their corrupt rulers and bringing their security agencies to task, but i haven't seen any sort of uprising in Pakistan other than the ongoing armed insurgency by TTP.

How come? Is it because the media outlets tow the line? The quality of spoon-fed propaganda? The Intelligence agencies grip on sniffing out those than try to rock the boat (Saleem Shahzad)? The actual threat of military action or paramilitary forces on the street?

I know the masses are pacifist brelwis and that the country has gone through severe flooding, but still, pakistan has a sizeable middle-class that seems to be content with the way of life. To put things in perspective, I remember there was somwhat of an uprising when iftikhar chaudhry was removed by musharaff.

But now, there's nothing? corruption is rife and those at the top are considered puppets but there's wholesale apathy. Why?

[Talal]

^ you answer your own question, if there is an uprising against the current government who gets to be in charge ? it will be the Army again and people know that...so instead of following in footsteps of the Arab uprisings where they either burned half of their country to the ground, or well burned the other half to the ground and allowed the same old army backed parties to take charge. In Pakistan there is a genuine push for a constitutional reform and to break the status quo..lets see if it works or not

[emkhan]

Pakistan is a bunch of seculars, dictators, religious, nationalists and the whole world hands are in Pakistan...and there is no long term dictatorship or any other system in Pakistan, it shifts every after 3, 4 years and then we see new slagans and new faces...
An uprising need a long term, consistent permanent anger against one party or system but it is not the case in Pakistan. So whenever there is a fear of uprising ... They replace it with a party or system which is a demand of the time so everyone and everything cools down...

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

Pakistanis are more intelligent than dumb arabs, it was not revolution, it was anarchy in arab world.

i disagree

the arabs had guts to rise up. the pakistanis have been hoodwinked into thinking they dont need an uprising

but then again, libya, egypt and tunisia were fairly homogenous societies

[graveyardofempires]

impossible
pakistan has nukes and they will nuke the civilians

[Amir al Ghaznavi]

impossible
pakistan has nukes and they will nuke the civilians

your wisdom is legendary

[Michin Khel]

@amir

Pakistan has democracy ,so people do not feel to rise in arab way. Imran khan popularity is at peak which means people want change.
and i have spent 3 years in libiya and 3 in qatar...libiyans could'nt say even a word against qadafi, they were scared of him. during that years i realized what exactly is importance of democracy...arabs were desperate 4 freedom frm dictators

[Insaaf_انصاف]

Mere khyal me pakistan ne khatam hona hai....
Maybe around 2020-2025
Kyonki India great economic country hone wala hai, india ne pakistan ke tukre tukre karnai hai

Inshallah , Pakistan khatam in future ...........

[graveyardofempires]

your wisdom is legendary

just if you could grasp what i ment.

let me put it clear to you,an uprising will fail because pakistan is a nuclear state.

[graveyardofempires]

@amir

Pakistan has democracy ,so people do not feel to rise in arab way. Imran khan popularity is at peak which means people want change.
and i have spent 3 years in libiya and 3 in qatar...libiyans could'nt say even a word against qadafi, they were scared of him. during that years i realized what exactly is importance of democracy...arabs were desperate 4 freedom frm dictators

Pakistan is a democracy?
in what sense?

[Michin Khel]

Pakistan is a democracy?
in what sense?

Ya its weak democracy but curruntly there is democratic governament. democracy n military dictatorship alternates with each other in pakistan

[emkhan]

Ya its weak democracy but curruntly there is democratic governament. democracy n military dictatorship alternates with each other in pakistan

There is no democracy in Pakistan in its real meaning. But pseudo democracy and dictatorship exchange with each other for short periods of time. This way they don't give a chance for an uprising of the masses. In other words they are playing with public.

[al-arab]

Pakistanis are more intelligent than dumb arabs, it was not revolution, it was anarchy in arab world.

I reported you for that senseless and untrue posts.

Who are Pakistanis btw? Never heard about such a race before? Sindh, Punjab, Pahstun, Baloch? Who are you?

No wonder that you give a bad name for "Pakistanis" in the Arab world.....

And since when is Pakistan a so called democracy??

Apart from that how dare you to disrespect all the braves Arabs who gave their life to remove secular dictators for the cause of Islam?

[KhyberKhan]

Pakistanis are more intelligent than dumb arabs, it was not revolution, it was anarchy in arab world.

if by dumb you mean brave than i agree

[az4er]

Quite strange when you think about it.

Pakistan as a nation mirrors a lot of the countries that have gone through a transition this year by removing their corrupt rulers and bringing their security agencies to task, but i haven't seen any sort of uprising in Pakistan other than the ongoing armed insurgency by TTP.

How come? Is it because the media outlets tow the line? The quality of spoon-fed propaganda? The Intelligence agencies grip on sniffing out those than try to rock the boat (Saleem Shahzad)? The actual threat of military action or paramilitary forces on the street?

I know the masses are pacifist brelwis and that the country has gone through severe flooding, but still, pakistan has a sizeable middle-class that seems to be content with the way of life. To put things in perspective, I remember there was somwhat of an uprising when iftikhar chaudhry was removed by musharaff.

But now, there's nothing? corruption is rife and those at the top are considered puppets but there's wholesale apathy. Why?

Well pakistan isn't a homogeneous society. When Ifthikhar Chaudry was removed by musharraf and the protests broke out, alot of what took place, happened in the poonjab. Even when benazir bhutoo was killed, the only people who took to the streets in Pakhtunkhwa and Quetta were political party workers and the odd few looking for kicks.

The TTP insurgency is a repercussion of pakistans own nefarious designs in Afghanistan (blowback) and FATA (air raids which killed innocent people in Bajaur and Waziristan), and for a while it did become an outlet for the local discontent populace of Pakhtunkhwa. There was almost an invasion of Peshawar in '09 by the TTP, around the time the Swat agreement took place. Popular support for it completely subsided after people in Swat, Pakhtunkhwa and FATA realized how draconian, confused, oppressive, psychotic and angry these people were. They suddenly saw pakistan as the lesser of two evils. Recently, the events in 08 and 09 have shaken up the pakistan army who've began investing more in FATA and PATA, in a bid to settle it and allow the ANP to finally do what they were elected to do 3 years ago. But the extremist indoctrination is much harder to rid of.

It'll be years before thinking like this is reversed completely, but when it does it gives the pakistani establishment plenty to worry about because it will nullify pakistan's policy of stagnate, indoctrinate and manipulate towards Pashtuns, and lead to a resurgence of Pashtun nationalism, especially if Afghanistan prospers (early 1970s).

As for Balochistan, you have your Baloch Liberation Army that's been operating in one form or another for over 60 years now against pakistan. The Pashtuns in balochistan are more involved with the Afghan Taliban due to the close proximity of their leadership.

Gilgit-Baltistan (previously Norther Areas) is becoming a hot spot for extremism because of intolerance against minority sects (which is in line with the rest of the country I guess). Groups originally centered in the poonjab such as the TNFSM and SSP openly flout government authority in places such as Hunza and Chilas. Once again, the result of pakarmy's policy of designating some groups as "friendly" for use in Afghanistan. Investments and development, courtesy of the Chinese are being used to counter this.

In sindh you have an underground pro-sindhi movement (also prevalent in the provincial leadership of the PPP) which wants total control of sindh for itself, including karachi. They, as well as the PPP, back the ANP and others to counter the mqm (which in itself is a militant organization) through arms and numbers (eventually) in karachi.

The hazarewal and siriaki areas are infested with groups which want to separate from Pakhtunkhwa and poonjab, respectively, and become separate provinces. But none possess any real strength or intent to do any damage. And the politicians espousing support for them do it for political reasons.

poonjab has its own ISI and PML-N backed Taliban which it operates with or at the behest of the pakarmy in FATA and Afghanistan. The pakarmy hasn't yet bothered to deal with this, for reasons we're aware of. It may finally be the straw that'll break the camels back but that heavily depends on any political movement in the area. We'll have to wait and see.

So basically the presence of anti-state elements are rampant, but as I mentioned earlier, since the country is so heterogeneous ethnically and religiously (majority Hanafi, Ismaili (Shia), Twelver (Shia), Salafis, Deobandi,etc.), the likelihood of nationwide dissent actually being nationwide is highly doubtful. Its also served as a way for rulers of the country to extend their stay at the helm longer than their respective mandates. (Utilizing the divisions for their own advantages)

Also, remember that pakistan is a democracy (sort of). People opt for new faces in their respective constituencies which satisfies, albeit for a short period of time, their demands for something new. Currently it seems to be Imran Khan and his PTI that's making significant strides in the urban areas of the country.

Saleem Shahzads murder is tied to alot of what's happening but its a different issue altogether. It wasn't popular dissent (if there ever was any) that got him killed. It was for revealing "state" secrets and sensitive information which could have derailed their plans in Afghanistan.

The pakistani media is mostly full of paparazzo styled conspiracy theorists and obnoxious self aggrandizing talk show hosts (+guests) who hypocritically exhibit whatever piece of information they get, regardless of whether its true or false. Most of the time it spends mocking and condemning everything or bolstering the army. The latter isn't surprising, considering private television channels began operating during musharrafs rule. Even the largest Pashto television network in the country, AVT Khyber, was propped up by the army.