Back to Square One

What do we mean by progress?  

"To Improve or develop over a period of time".

All of us yearn for this phenomenon in the competitive times that prevail today. We say, Pakistan is left behind in the world race. That is it. We merely state the obvious and do nothing about it. Now, what does that say about us as a nation? Are we so pessimistic that we give up all hope or are unwilling to see this land prosper or do we simply put the blame on governments?

Currently our economy is unstable, our business community is struggling, and people are losing jobs or simply not getting paid enough to make ends meet. A significant proportion of our people are earning less than Rupees 20,000 a month. People do not have a roof over their head and even three meals a day is a luxury. Do not be alarmed because that is how most of our populace are leading their lives in Interior Punjab, Sindh, Khyber PakhtunKhwa and Balochistan.

Poor nutrition and sanitation have led them into deteriorating health and the condition of public hospitals is right before our very own eyes.  Imagine the state of mind these unfortunate families might be having, can we blame them for being pessimistic about the future? Can we blame them for not progressing or do we blame the government for not providing them with their basic rights as citizens?

Without a shadow of doubt, the latter makes more sense. Amidst such circumstances, we find political parties fighting over who is selected and who is elected. The irony, however, is that we always let them exploit us. Till date, no democratic government in our history has been able to deliver on their promises. In fact, their wealth has multiplied whereas the poor continue to become poorer and poorer.

A year earlier, I recall interacting with a person who was putting up posters of a certain candidate during the 2018 General Elections. He showed me a 5000 Rupees currency note and said his leader had promised him a job after the election. A few months ago, I saw the same person sleeping in a mosque and the look he had on his face said it all. I felt for him, for the hope he once had when he ignored the scorching July heat while tirelessly pasting posters of a candidate running for election from his constituency. That is all it takes to deceive my people.

Shall we expect progress? No. Certainly not until the common person continues to be deceived.

"Countries such as Great Britain and the United States became rich because their citizens overthrew the elites who controlled power and created a society where political rights were much more broadly distributed, where the government was accountable and responsive to citizens, and where the great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities." (Why Nations Fail – by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson)

Pakistan is still a young nation, compared to western democracies that go back centuries. Our founding father, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, achieved this country democratically and constitutionally. Destiny did not allow him to draw the socio – economic, religious and political map of a newly born state. During the first twenty one years of inception, Pakistan was governed by civil – military bureaucracy under oligarchic and authoritarian traditions. The military continue to play a role in the political affairs of Pakistan. Imposed leaders and inherited politics have brought damage to the overall system. The election campaigns of political parties may convey the message of ‘people first’ but the reality is far from it. Majority of the Pakistani people continue to live in areas with no access to proper education, health or food.

We must not expect progressive thought to be welcomed until the audience can comprehend it. The young generation of politics enthusiasts is our best opportunity to start sowing the seeds of a real democracy. 

Educate yourself and whoever you can, utilize the resources available to you, dig in to your history and read as many books as you can.  

Feel free to read "Why nations fail" by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. It is one of the finest books you will ever read.

Baby steps do count

27th March 2016. Another black day is added to our history.

This month has seen many terrible, inhumane acts. A few days ago, the people of Brussels were caught in the fire of terror. Yesterday, Pakistan lost its children, when terror visited a park in Lahore. Every human being condemns these horrific acts.

The event of Brussels, bought the attention of the whole world and rightfully so, but did Lahore manage to get the same attention from the rest of world? The Huffington post did tweet with the hashtag #PrayforPakistan and the Omni Dallas Hotel in US displayed the Pakistani national flag on its facade. CNN also gave a few minutes of coverage to the terrible act, but that was it. I do not intend to build on hatred or present a conspiracy theory, but just to tell the world, if we continue to discriminate between those who die here in Asia and Middle East, with the people who die in Europe or America, we, and I say this with great dismay, will never win this war.

To defeat this monster, we need to change ourselves. The change needs not to start on the higher scale, but slight changes in how we spend our daily lives, how we talk, how we think about the other individuals that are with us, how we treat the elders and the young ones, how good we are to people who do not share the same religion we do, or do not speak the same language, or belong to a different city, town or village. If we, as a neighborhood, society and as a nation, could reform ourselves a touch and learn to trust and compromise in our daily lives, we can achieve greatness. 

Our enemy has no ideology, but a strategy. The strategy is to use our weaknesses as a society against us. Why do young men and women go to the mountains and fight against their own soil? Intolerance and illiteracy. Educating this country is a long term plan, but removing intolerance is something, individuals together can accomplish.

We need to break many walls that have been built inside our cities and towns to divide this nation. It won't be easy and it won't be quick, but we have to. How? Small baby steps would do. As a state, we have made some. Holi was declared a public holiday, which is a very big achievement. However, many more need to follow. If we could start talking, if the people of Pakistan could start discussing issues, with an open mind, with the objective to achieve a rational conclusion, after listening carefully to the other persons point of view, this nation could achieve great heights.Conversations make relationships. For us to break the walls between our people, talking has to flourish.I understand that any talk on nationalism, sectarianism, provincialism, on ethnicity, race, culture, likes and dislikes, one's profession, is bound to invoke a rush of blood, but we need to develop control over that. We need eradicate the fear of not discussing issues that are directly related to us and this will only be possible if we build our lives on truth and compromise. The day we, as individuals, start being fair to others, the day we treat them the same as we treat our families, Pakistan will prosper.


Pakistan Zindabad.