India’s Shekhar Gupta is Wrong: No! Pakistani DNA is Not Designed for Military Rule |
The human spirit has always strained toward freedom, across time and borders. To claim otherwise, to say any people are preordained for autocracy or lack the will for self-rule, is a crude misreading of history and a dangerous dehumanization.
Recently, Indian journalist Shekhar Gupta argued in a vlog that Pakistan’s “nation, its ideology, and its sense of being and national pride are pre-designed for military autocracies,” pointing to public passivity when leaders like Imran Khan are jailed. This is not only misplaced but echoes colonial-era tropes that painted entire peoples as unfit for democracy. Indians, above all, should recoil at this narrative given their own history of such branding by imperial powers.
Gupta’s argument ignores raw coercion. Pakistan’s security apparatus wields tremendous, brutal muscle capable of crushing any dissent with merciless ferocity, shielded by Western countries that claim guardianship of human rights. Expecting spontaneous uprisings against such a juggernaut is not just unrealistic—it is callously insensitive to those living under the boot of oppression.
Yet Pakistanis have repeatedly defied repression, not only under current rulers but against past dictatorships too. History is littered with their acts of defiance. On February 8, 2024, despite mass arrests, mobile blackouts, and bans on party symbols, over 61 million voters, including many PTI supporters, braved obstacles to cast ballots. The stunning upset by PTI-backed independents came despite widespread rigging, as later exposed by a leaked