July 6, 2010

Pakistan: The True Perspective

I am writing this post as a reflection on Pakistan and everything related to it. The lies that we have been made to believe; the truths that have been deceptively kept from us. The perverted decisions of the policy makers and the utter lack of ethos on the part of those who matter. What have we done to this country? Why do we treat it with such disdain? What is wrong with our country? It will just take the goodwill on the part of only 342 people sitting in the House of Supreme Authority to put this country right at the top of the world map. And I believe that. Not because I'm a freaky optimist, but mainly because I'm a realist before an optimist. 

And where does my realism emanate from? Well from Muhammad Aamer, the latest bowling sensation to hit the world. From Arif Lohar and Meesha Shafi. From Abida Parveen. From Rohail Hayat who has done the impossible, mixed the contemporary with the classic. My realism stems from the people who go to sleep everyday not knowing if they'll even wake up tomorrow and yet, survive it. It also stems from the fact that we have people here who despite having absolutely nothing to gain still gain, and gain it well. It stems from the genius of those and the business acumen of others who were nothing and now are everything. I look around and I see people who's wills will simply not be broken because another bomb exploded, and another innocent live went back. It is these people who are the constant in this ever changing variable equation of life and death.

But reflecting on our apathetic situation, I've come to realize that lack of opportunity is what has failed our country and us as a nation. Our policies which are fundamentally flawed. Our ethics, which do not allow us to do the right thing. Our leaders sit in air-conditioned rooms, drive around in bomb proof shiny black cars, drink the finest drinks and eat the finest cuisines, oblivious to the world around them; and yet somehow, one way or the other, the people still survive while their blood is sucked dry and they are left out of the loop on every decision that is basically made in their best interest. We have doctors who run the world but they fail us at home. Our national airline helped Emirates become the world's best airline in the world, yet it failed it self. Our army trained and raised the Saudi Armed Forces, yet now they're so much more busy in making profits off land that doesn't even belong to them. What went wrong where? Why did we become so selfish? Why have we drifted apart so much?

Once upon a time, everyone of us was told we're an agrarian economy. Then we all went to university and learned that regime after regime we only dedicated our resources to build our industrial sector. Once upon a time, we were told we won the 1965 War. Then we read history and realized India bested us on every occasion. Why inculcate so much complacency in the nation? Why? Who's interests does it serve? Why don't our leaders want us to rise as a whole, and sweep the world off its feet? Because as reality shows us, yes we can. Oh yes, we most definitely can.

Hope is not lost. It will never be lost in this Land of Chaos. We will be punished, our lives will become harsher, our hopes will be murdered. But if there's one thing I've learnt in my 21 years of existence, it's that Pakistanis' backs will not be bent, and they will survive disaster after disaster till disasters accept their defeat.

I'm proud to be a Pakistani. Because we're the coolest people in the world. Beat that.