Part II Pakistan is beset with a host of problems – multitude would probably be a better word. Some are created by us ourselves, some are imposed by others, some are there owing to our gaffs and naievities, whereas the rest are in probability a test upon us imposed by Almighty Allah, though I would like to assume that He would only impose on us tests that we can bear. Our problems though many in number and complex in nature, in a generalized form can be reduced to the following eight – the others somehow or the other can be toggled with either of these eight. Do note that these have not been given in any particular order. Shift them around and they will still be equally potent. 1.We as a people have a lust for power. It is there inbuilt and we can do nothing about it. Our life is simply a tussle for power. Power game is therefore our problem number one. It permeates right from the top straight down to the bottom. 2.We then have a tendency to twist Islam to suit our individualistic ends. Islam is Islam – plain and simple. There just cannot be two ways about it. The irony is that there is one Quran but numerous interpretations. Why ? Each interpretation has been developed as a justification of our means to our end. Moderate Islam, Progressive Islam, Less tolerant Islam etc etc are our way of twisting Islam. This is our problem number two. 3.Financial lust is third. Our main aim in life revolves around the following maxim: my financial gain should be inversely proportional to the effort I put in. In other words, my efforts should be miniscule – my reward infinite. As a nation, it has been ingrained in us to beg, borrow, steal, live of scraps, subsidies, drawbacks, rebates, handouts etc etc. Simple – we just don’t want to work. And once again, this permeates right from the top to the very bottom. Yes – the degee of lust may vary, but it will always be there. 4.We are ashamed of being Pakistani and anything Pakistani. We are absolutely against Urdu being spoken in our households. We prefer English. We take pride in even crying in English. For us, Urdu is a slur. The reality should have been we taking pride in speaking our local languages at home (Punjabi, Pushto, Sindhi, Balochi as is relevant) and speaking Urdu nationally. I will produce below an excerpt thatI recently came across:
Why so ? Even in gatherings, we’d rather make an utter fool of ourselves and speak in incoherent English than speak in Urdu or our local languages. “First thanks to Allah. It waas (deliberately spelt so) a team effort” “Happy Birthday-same to you” are common place examples. For us, it is an insult to wear a shalwar kamiz or a sherwani. Why ? For us, buying anything Made in Pakistan would place us several rungs below on the social ladder. Our approach is always apologetic. 5.Then the Kashmir issue. Wonder why this has been lingering on for so long, has caused us to fight three wars and have numerous skirmishes with India, lose numerous lives both sides, and hit our budgets badly ? Has anyone ever stopped and wondered why ? Back to the drawing board. Ever spared a thought for what the Kashmris want ? They have always clamoured for Azadi i.e. SOVEREIGNTY. They have never asked for accession to either Pakistan or India, and this goes contrary to what has been harped on all along. They want Azadi – plain and simple. The only beneficiary in this whole impasse are our burgeoning defence forces which continue to take up the bulk of our budgets, and our egos. Nothing else. Both India and Paksitan continue to squander substantial amounts whereas the end gain is going to be zero. The only question is who is going to take the first step in this regard. We should grant Azadi to the Kashmiris as should the Indians, and secure our Eastern Borders. Easier said than done, I agree, but this is the only way-out. Imagine the benefits that both sides of the Wagah Border will derive from this should this ever happen. For starters, we will at least have normal relations with India. 6.Then the Israeli issue. We Pakistanis have a problem of being more royal than the king himself. We have absolutely nothing to do with the Palestinian problem – absolutely nothing. But it seems as if our heart beats ahead of theirs. Irony ? Have they ever raised a voice in our favour over the Kashmir issue ? For that matter, has ever anyone in the Ummah done that ? Never to my living memory unless it has been state lip service. Then why should we create an unnecessary front ? A number of the Islamic States have accepted the State of Israel and have diplomatic relations with them. Why can’t we do the same ? We should accept the State of Israel forthwith and establish relations with them. We should support the Palestinian cause but within reasonable limits. Experience has taught me that the ordinary person on the street of both India and Israel are as good hearted as you and me are. There is zero difference. Keep religion and politics out of a discussion, and you can have a fruitful relationship with anyone – bring those two in and a family can go down the drain. 7.Terrorism. This is something that was/is purely homegrown. When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in the late 70s, General Zia was advised by the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan not to allow the refugees into Pakistan. But since we are more royal than the king himself and since all the woes and pains of the Ummah are ours, we let the flood in. Then we sponsored the Mujahideen in all forms possible and created a monster out of them. History is abound with examples where monsters created to divide a power or to dilute someone’s influence, has ended up in being a monster totally out of control. Examples are plentiful. Once the Russians pulled out a decade later, the Mujahideen with their acquired wealth and arms had to expand their influence somewhere. Eastwards became their preferred choice since most if not all of them were already residents in our numerous Afghan Refugee Camps and had families here. Where to brandish their weapons ? The call came from Usama Bin Laden and the cause seemed familiar – a super power needs taming. One thing led to another and we are where we are today. Caught between a hard rock and the ocean, where do we go ? We can’t take on the might of the US and we cannot take the terrorists on either (incidentally we still apologetically call them Taliban instead of terrorists or rebels or whatever) – so we paid lip service for years and now when we finally were left with no choice other than to take them head-on, the life count is mounting by the day. The Americans upon whom we depend for sustenance, are proven deserters. They have repeatedly deserted us after having used us for their gains. We are what you may (my apologies for the expression) call the used and disposed-off condom.They did that after we facilitated them setting up channels with China, they repeated that when we facilitated their U2 flights over the USSR from Peshawar, they did that when we saved their hides in Somalia, they did that after the Afghan war etc. We unfortunately have short memories on that account. Now we have stuck our necks out on the War Against Terror, and the Americans have already begun brandishing their teeth. The reason why I have clubbed the Americans with the Terrorism problem afflicting Pakistan is that the Americans are themselves the biggest terrorists and oppressors in the World. Since we are neck deep in this problem, it have to be delicately managed. We will have to firmly tell the Americans to back off and simultaneously try and bring the terrorists into our mainstream. If it could work in Northern Ireland, why can’t it work here ? And the Americans will have to be told so on a United Pakistan basis. We cannot have our media first telling the Americans how rotten they are , and then party with them in the US Embassy Islamabad and having pictures splashed all over the airwaves. What kind of morality is this ? And then the Afghan Government and ISAF will have to be told to manage their problems in their own fore as well as back yards. We won’t do it for them. And in order to drive the message home, the next drone must be punished for violating our airspace. And further, if our Ministers say that Black Water is not operating in Pakistan, they better take a re-look. Drones cannot operate unless the target is lit by someone close range. The lighting up is done by infra red. 8.And last and most important. Since we live to satisfy our own means, we are not United as a Nation. Rather than the slogan being PAKISTAN FIRST, our slogan is WE. There is no second. Our interests are paramount even if that means “to hell with the Country”. The end result is that we simply have never united as a nation is 63 years. I am not saying that we are not patriotic as a people – believe me we are – our issue is of being United. Unless we unite, take it from me, that the above seven problems will never be washed away. The eight ailments have been given above – their solutions have also been hinted at. There is no quick-fix solution. These ailments either involve years and years of lethargy and cancer or involve mindsets that cannot be changed overnight. For example, since we were born, it has been ingrained in us that India and Indians are our only enemies and that they massacred us during the August 1947 mass migration. Removing that mindset will take a generation or two. Same with the concept that Jews are Islam’s arch enemies. Our lust for power and greed for wealth, our tendency to laze around and get rich and our inclination to live of hand-outs, are practically part of our chromosome structure now. Give that a couple of generations to change too. We are already practically into the third or even fourth generation after Independence. If we start moving today, probably the sixth generation will reap the fruits of our endeavours. To me that is a price worth paying for this piece of land we call Pakistan. The only other option is a bloody revolution – an uprising with probably no parallel in history. And believe me that the seeds are there. I felt that ten years ago when I moved from Lahore to Karachi. Do you want to see signs of it ? On any weekend night, just visit Park Towers in the Clifton Area. Admire the glitz, the neons, the vulgar show of wealth, people streaming into and out of McDonalds and throwing left-overs here and there, Land Cruisers and Prados buzzing around, our youth barely clothed with bared midriffs etc. Now look across both roads towards the pavement across. No lights, dusty, full of filth and stench (from incessant urination), and people asleep on bare mats, hungry urchins running around trying to scavenge whatever scrap or left-over they can and begging for the rest – and all this a bare twenty or so metres away i.e. the entire spectrum of Pakistan sketched in a twenty metre stretch. What other conclusion can you possibly draw ? And my conviction is that the spark to light it up will come from something very very simple such as a power riot, a sugar riot or even an Ata riot, and all three were barely averted last year. My sincere hope and earnest prayer is for the entire nation to wake up address our evils today.
That question is a no-starter. The only thing they are sincere with has nothing to do with us – the Pakistani – unless it is adverse (apologies for the spelling errors earlier )
That question is a no-starter. The only thing they are sincere with has nothing to do with us – the Paksitani – unles it is adverse
Part II
Pakistan is beset with a host of problems – multitude would probably be a better word. Some are created by us ourselves, some are imposed by others, some are there owing to our gaffs and naievities, whereas the rest are in probability a test upon us imposed by Almighty Allah, though I would like to assume that He would only impose on us tests that we can bear.
Our problems though many in number and complex in nature, in a generalized form can be reduced to the following eight – the others somehow or the other can be toggled with either of these eight. Do note that these have not been given in any particular order. Shift them around and they will still be equally potent.
1. We as a people have a lust for power. It is there inbuilt and we can do nothing about it. Our life is simply a tussle for power. Power game is therefore our problem number one. It permeates right from the top straight down to the bottom.
2. We then have a tendency to twist Islam to suit our individualistic ends. Islam is Islam – plain and simple. There just cannot be two ways about it. The irony is that there is one Quran but numerous interpretations. Why ? Each interpretation has been developed as a justification of our means to our end. Moderate Islam, Progressive Islam, Less tolerant Islam etc etc are our way of twisting Islam. This is our problem number two.
3. Financial lust is third. Our main aim in life revolves around the following maxim: my financial gain should be inversely proportional to the effort I put in. In other words, my efforts should be miniscule – my reward infinite. As a nation, it has been ingrained in us to beg, borrow, steal, live of scraps, subsidies, drawbacks, rebates, handouts etc etc. Simple – we just don’t want to work. And once again, this permeates right from the top to the very bottom. Yes – the degee of lust may vary, but it will always be there.
4. We are ashamed of being Pakistani and anything Pakistani. We are absolutely against Urdu being spoken in our households. We prefer English. We take pride in even crying in English. For us, Urdu is a slur. The reality should have been we taking pride in speaking our local languages at home (Punjabi, Pushto, Sindhi, Balochi as is relevant) and speaking Urdu nationally. I will produce below an excerpt that I recently came across:
Why so ? Even in gatherings, we’d rather make an utter fool of ourselves and speak in incoherent English than speak in Urdu or our local languages. “First thanks to Allah. It waas (deliberately spelt so) a team effort” “Happy Birthday-same to you” are common place examples. For us, it is an insult to wear a shalwar kamiz or a sherwani. Why ? For us, buying anything Made in Pakistan would place us several rungs below on the social ladder. Our approach is always apologetic.
5. Then the Kashmir issue. Wonder why this has been lingering on for so long, has caused us to fight three wars and have numerous skirmishes with India, lose numerous lives both sides, and hit our budgets badly ? Has anyone ever stopped and wondered why ?
Back to the drawing board. Ever spared a thought for what the Kashmris want ? They have always clamoured for Azadi i.e. SOVEREIGNTY. They have never asked for accession to either Pakistan or India, and this goes contrary to what has been harped on all along. They want Azadi – plain and simple. The only beneficiary in this whole impasse are our burgeoning defence forces which continue to take up the bulk of our budgets, and our egos. Nothing else. Both India and Paksitan continue to squander substantial amounts whereas the end gain is going to be zero. The only question is who is going to take the first step in this regard. We should grant Azadi to the Kashmiris as should the Indians, and secure our Eastern Borders. Easier said than done, I agree, but this is the only way-out. Imagine the benefits that both sides of the Wagah Border will derive from this should this ever happen. For starters, we will at least have normal relations with India.
6. Then the Israeli issue. We Pakistanis have a problem of being more royal than the king himself. We have absolutely nothing to do with the Palestinian problem – absolutely nothing. But it seems as if our heart beats ahead of theirs. Irony ? Have they ever raised a voice in our favour over the Kashmir issue ? For that matter, has ever anyone in the Ummah done that ? Never to my living memory unless it has been state lip service. Then why should we create an unnecessary front ? A number of the Islamic States have accepted the State of Israel and have diplomatic relations with them. Why can’t we do the same ? We should accept the State of Israel forthwith and establish relations with them. We should support the Palestinian cause but within reasonable limits. Experience has taught me that the ordinary person on the street of both India and Israel are as good hearted as you and me are. There is zero difference. Keep religion and politics out of a discussion, and you can have a fruitful relationship with anyone – bring those two in and a family can go down the drain.
7. Terrorism. This is something that was/is purely homegrown. When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in the late 70s, General Zia was advised by the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan not to allow the refugees into Pakistan. But since we are more royal than the king himself and since all the woes and pains of the Ummah are ours, we let the flood in. Then we sponsored the Mujahideen in all forms possible and created a monster out of them. History is abound with examples where monsters created to divide a power or to dilute someone’s influence, has ended up in being a monster totally out of control. Examples are plentiful. Once the Russians pulled out a decade later, the Mujahideen with their acquired wealth and arms had to expand their influence somewhere. Eastwards became their preferred choice since most if not all of them were already residents in our numerous Afghan Refugee Camps and had families here. Where to brandish their weapons ? The call came from Usama Bin Laden and the cause seemed familiar – a super power needs taming. One thing led to another and we are where we are today. Caught between a hard rock and the ocean, where do we go ? We can’t take on the might of the US and we cannot take the terrorists on either (incidentally we still apologetically call them Taliban instead of terrorists or rebels or whatever) – so we paid lip service for years and now when we finally were left with no choice other than to take them head-on, the life count is mounting by the day. The Americans upon whom we depend for sustenance, are proven deserters. They have repeatedly deserted us after having used us for their gains. We are what you may (my apologies for the expression) call the used and disposed-off condom.They did that after we facilitated them setting up channels with China, they repeated that when we facilitated their U2 flights over the USSR from Peshawar, they did that when we saved their hides in Somalia, they did that after the Afghan war etc. We unfortunately have short memories on that account. Now we have stuck our necks out on the War Against Terror, and the Americans have already begun brandishing their teeth. The reason why I have clubbed the Americans with the Terrorism problem afflicting Pakistan is that the Americans are themselves the biggest terrorists and oppressors in the World. Since we are neck deep in this problem, it have to be delicately managed. We will have to firmly tell the Americans to back off and simultaneously try and bring the terrorists into our mainstream. If it could work in Northern Ireland, why can’t it work here ? And the Americans will have to be told so on a United Pakistan basis. We cannot have our media first telling the Americans how rotten they are , and then party with them in the US Embassy Islamabad and having pictures splashed all over the airwaves. What kind of morality is this ? And then the Afghan Government and ISAF will have to be told to manage their problems in their own fore as well as back yards. We won’t do it for them. And in order to drive the message home, the next drone must be punished for violating our airspace. And further, if our Ministers say that Black Water is not operating in Pakistan, they better take a re-look. Drones cannot operate unless the target is lit by someone close range. The lighting up is done by infra red.
8. And last and most important. Since we live to satisfy our own means, we are not United as a Nation. Rather than the slogan being PAKISTAN FIRST, our slogan is WE. There is no second. Our interests are paramount even if that means “to hell with the Country”. The end result is that we simply have never united as a nation is 63 years. I am not saying that we are not patriotic as a people – believe me we are – our issue is of being United. Unless we unite, take it from me, that the above seven problems will never be washed away.
The eight ailments have been given above – their solutions have also been hinted at. There is no quick-fix solution. These ailments either involve years and years of lethargy and cancer or involve mindsets that cannot be changed overnight. For example, since we were born, it has been ingrained in us that India and Indians are our only enemies and that they massacred us during the August 1947 mass migration. Removing that mindset will take a generation or two. Same with the concept that Jews are Islam’s arch enemies. Our lust for power and greed for wealth, our tendency to laze around and get rich and our inclination to live of hand-outs, are practically part of our chromosome structure now. Give that a couple of generations to change too. We are already practically into the third or even fourth generation after Independence. If we start moving today, probably the sixth generation will reap the fruits of our endeavours. To me that is a price worth paying for this piece of land we call Pakistan.
The only other option is a bloody revolution – an uprising with probably no parallel in history. And believe me that the seeds are there. I felt that ten years ago when I moved from Lahore to Karachi. Do you want to see signs of it ? On any weekend night, just visit Park Towers in the Clifton Area. Admire the glitz, the neons, the vulgar show of wealth, people streaming into and out of McDonalds and throwing left-overs here and there, Land Cruisers and Prados buzzing around, our youth barely clothed with bared midriffs etc. Now look across both roads towards the pavement across. No lights, dusty, full of filth and stench (from incessant urination), and people asleep on bare mats, hungry urchins running around trying to scavenge whatever scrap or left-over they can and begging for the rest – and all this a bare twenty or so metres away i.e. the entire spectrum of Pakistan sketched in a twenty metre stretch. What other conclusion can you possibly draw ? And my conviction is that the spark to light it up will come from something very very simple such as a power riot, a sugar riot or even an Ata riot, and all three were barely averted last year.
My sincere hope and earnest prayer is for the entire nation to wake up address our evils today.
That question is a no-starter. The only thing they are sincere with has nothing to do with us – the Pakistani – unless it is adverse (apologies for the spelling errors earlier )
Leave a comment