The streets of Karachi light up with jubilation. Flags mark each street corner and cars carry banners commemorating the 60th anniversary of the nation.

The celebrations of August 14th remind me of the father of the nation Jinnah's ever ambitious plan to create a secular state. However, we have a long way to go before fulfilling this dream.

Muslims demanded a separate state was because of religious intolerance. The 1930s Congress, or Hindu majority rule, oppressed many Muslims and they felt there would have to be drastic change in the system of government. Sixty years on, our "secular" Pakistan still suffers from this kind of intolerance.

Pakistan remains one of the only nations in the world where an individual's religion is branded on a passport. It is also the only nation that requires you to denounce a religious sect to obtain a passport. We are a nation plagued by religious fundamentalists who press for radical demands.

Religion really is, as Karl Marx said, the "opium for the masses" and serves as the best vote-catcher in elections. Pakistan has deviated a long way from the course initially set out by Qaid e azam [Jinnah] in 1947. In many ways we still await to liberate ourselves from this hopeless episode of theocracy. We can never taste the true freedoms of independence until this happens.

But behind the grandeur of those fluttering green flags, there is an underlying tone of a much needed reconciliation.

It is important to remember that both nations -- under the leadership of Gandhi, the father of India and Jinnah -- worked tirelessly to secure their mutual independence from the British Raj, which had gripped the subcontinent for over a century.

India and Pakistan not only exist as two independent nations, but they are key players in today's political scenario. We have come a long way from our past history of subservience to the Western world and the white man.

We only wait to emulate the glorious state of our Mughal past.

But the people of both nations must identify with this common goal that they once shared. We must look back and remember that there was indeed a united struggle. It is vital that India and Pakistan put behind the Kashmir issue and develop better relations. Too many lives have been wasted settling old scores. The Jammu Kashmir issue must be dismissed from any further diplomatic negotiations between the two nations. The people of the subcontinent are one independent people.

With events such as the Lal Masjid [Red Mosque] fiasco casting a dark shadow in the background, Pakistan's future hangs in the balance. A nation torn apart between liberals and fundamentalists, democrats and dictators can only be described as chaotic at best.

As the celebrations fizzle out and excitement dies down, a glowing nation degenerates into its former self. Corruption, greed and indifference begin to slowly grip the darkening roads of Karachi once again. The time for thinking ahead and patriotism slowly evaporates. Religion and ignorance envelope the country like two sinister clouds. A storm awaits.

--Shahryar Kamal Malik is a student at the Karachi Grammar School in Pakistan. A member of the school's World Affairs Society Council, he also enjoys history, sailing and basketball. This essay was originally published on the society's Web site, http://worldaffairssociety.wordpress.com/.

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