Anatomy of Power
By Lt Col (R) M Zaman Malik

POLITICS and economics are interlinked. Both these ingredients are essential items of a term called Unity without which a term called power is purely academic and meaningless. What is Power? It is question that some inquisitive minds may ask to answer. The idea of Power, one learnt decades ago, involves three factors, force, distance and time. Force to enforce one’s will upon one’s opponent. Distance could be taken to extend one’s territories and Time could be taken to be that much ahead of ones opponent, not only in terms of time alone, but also in space and in terms of thinking. That means to be that much ahead of one’s opponents in mind-in-knowledge.

Power is many things: to a physicist for example, it is work done whenever a force moves a body over a certain distance. In the field, the finding of new sources of power has been one of the key reasons for the progress of the civilizations. Modern civilization has developed because man has harnessed other sources to the power of his own muscle. The discovery of these new forces of power has greatly altered the history of the world. The development of new sources of power has changed the lives of entire communities. Underdeveloped countries throughout the world look to new forces of power to replace man and animals. The rapid growth of the Western power in the 17th and 18th centuries was traced to the development of water power.

The demand for Kashmir, the relationship of which, to Pakistan, has always been the same, as that of a head to a body, is our moral and economic demand. The rivers that flow through Pakistan all originate from Kashmir area and have to be harnessed in the lower hills of the same area to provide the much-needed water power for the developing area of the Muslim world. Which still identifies itself with the name of Pakistan. No amount of goodwill created by the CBMs including matrimonial matches between Pakistan and India (Israel and its neighbours as well) can compensate for the severance of head from the body. There has never been any compensation for injustice except justice and the sooner the better. There is an old saying, “ One can exist without friends but one cannot live without neighbours.

The cinders from the heat of injustice are there and winds from distant lands could suddenly appear to fan these cinders into flames. Any fire in one country is bound to affect the other — the cinders will be blown across the borders and the poor, thatched dwellings will catch fire easily even from the smallest cinder, because they are so dry and parched from thirst and hunger on both sides. The insistence of India to hang on to this territory which is very much a Muslim majority area, inspite of all the resolutions passed by the UNSC for plebiscite to be held in Kashmir to decide the issue; is a good example of a big country exerting power against a smaller neighbour to decide issues that suite its own interest, at the expense of smaller and weaker neighbour.

Sources of Power have enabled man to produce goods, means of transport over land, sea and in air and beyond that in the world of spaces. Electronic media has shrunk individual problems into community problems and internal affairs have become International affairs. Various colours of human skin have been flung together, various languages are spoken at various places at the same time at different international gatherings. International class, colour, creed and country barriers in a way have been destroyed. Incidentally Islam was the religion to preach and practice that. This is probably one of the reasons why the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) headed the list of the ‘Greatest’ in a book (The 100 By Micheal H. Hart) for his impact on humanity. Our problems have become the problems of others and vice versa, whether for good or bad, depends on our own deeds. For instance forgiveness begets forgiveness, mercy begets mercy, love begets love, justice begets justice and terror begets terrorism.

History keeps us reminding that inferior numbers can exercise power when they have control over important resources, such as the military. What constitutes strength is healthy, trained manpower; superior numbers and resources do not, by themselves, give one high degree of power over others. People must know how to use their resources effectively. By getting in some kind of organisation the people become powerful, which mean Unity is strength. At the World level NATO, the Big-8, EU, and so on so forth, tend to gain power through mutually beneficial alliances.

Knowledge is power. The side that wins the battle of the mind will win the war in the end. Electronic powers of the West is playing most effective role in this context of influencing the minds. In the concept of ‘Total War’ today you could have a situation where the war may be won without the battle having been decided on the battlefield, because the civilian population that supports the soldiers in the field, from the weapon producing factories, communication systems etc, may have thrown up their hands before the ‘citizens in uniform’ (the soldier) has had time to engage the enemy in a decisive battle on the battle field. There are various forms of power; they include coercion, influence and authority. Coercion is the use of physical force to enforce decisions. Influence is the ability to produce an effect, through example, persuation or any other means, without using force. Authority is power that is based on an agreement by a majority of the numbers of a society group. The main sources of power are : 1) Superior resources. 2) Superior number. 3) Superior organisation.

Most Western writers have adorned the covers of books they have written on Islam (erroneaously called Muhammadanism) with scimitars etc. The weapon that spread Islam was that of the mind; when the thinking changed all the other codes of life were also changed. This is what the electronic Media of the West is concentrating at today. Gradually, they are revolutionising the minds of the poor third World youth, to act in their (West’s) favour against their own/ their country’s interest, inadvertently. If you can change the thinking you have won the decisive battle. Chengis Khan spread terror, (like Bush) as he went, that was his idea of converting the mind, by reducing the will of his opponent to fight. It is interesting to note that some of his progeny, within a few decades, became the most ardent exponents of Islam.

This again happened not through the sword but through the weapon of thought. That goes to prove very effectively that Islam was not spread by the sword but by truthful reasoning. The moment the high ethical code was eroded by the ‘Intellectualism’ and the reliance on weaponry was raised higher than the pedestal of ‘intellectualism’ the spread of Islam first – slowed down and then was brought to a complete halt.

True discipline is inspired, never enforced. If discipline is based on fear then the minute this element of fear is reduced or removed this pattern of discipline soon disappears. The moment the moral authority is compromised for making money illegally etc, the discipline gets evaporated. If someone has the resources and riches but does not possess adequate knowledge, he cannot get far and by all probability, he will be caught by some tragic results.

In the concept of war today the side that produces the weapons to convert and conquer the mind can win even the first bullet is fired. The mind cannot be conquered by weapons of war. Vietnam is an admirable example of that fact, when half-naked, half starved, ill-equipped people made the most powerful military power call it a day and go home.

Military power is based primarily on mind power. Whoever conquers the mind either by coercion or persuation will win the ultimate battle. Islam has therefore concentrated all along on the mind — the controller of all the bodily functions. To achieve the superiority in mind is the real battle of today. Wealth can only be power, if items are for sale. The items that really matter — character, knowledge etc., whether fortunately or unfortunately, can not be bought easily. If the armed forces earn the loathsome reputation of being corrupt, its command loses the moral authority to expect obedience of its orders by all concerned.●

The writer is an Abbottabad-based regular columnist and a noted analyst. E-mail: mzamanmalik19@hotmail.com 

© 2004 Lt Col (R) M Zaman Malik