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'We are Pakistanis, that is the only thing that matters'

'We are Pakistanis, that is the only thing that matters'

When I was a child I once came home from school and asked my mom if I was Punjabi or Urdu speaking, my mom replied: We are Pakistanis and that is the only thing that matters. I will forever thank her for teaching me that, because it made me realise Pakistan is my home and no matter what people say it will always be my home.

Nojeba Haider July 10, 2010

When I was a child I once came home from school and asked my mom if I was Punjabi or Urdu speaking, my mom replied:

We are Pakistanis and that is the only thing that matters.

I will forever thank her for teaching me that, because it made me realise Pakistan is my home and no matter what people say it will always be my home. I am to be counted among the small percentage of the population that harbours a simultaneous deep love for my country and shares a heart-wrenching disappointment with the people in my country.

On my visit to Dubai a few months ago, I met people from various countries including Pakistanis settled in Dubai. Almost everyone I met there asked me why I’m still living in Pakistan. A couple of foreigners even asked me if I was allowed to wear western clothes in Islam and would be allowed to marry out of my choice. What infuriated me was how the Pakistani’s settled there made fun of Pakistan too.

Yes I agree there is political instability in Pakistan, yes I agree there is no security in Pakistan, but what are we as Pakistanis doing about it? We blame the government, but we cannot blame the ruling party alone. Every developing country has teething problems. That doesn’t mean you abandon it.

We take for granted that we were born in a free country

Ask the people who lived their life fighting for an independent country, people who never had the freedom to practise their religion. We were lucky, yet it’s a pity we have taken that for granted. Ask our ancestors who lost their loved ones in their fight for an independent country, who left and travelled miles with nothing but food for one day to live in a separate country. My grandparents tell me stories about their suffering at the time of migration from India to Pakistan and my heart bleeds, when after all that we are ready to give up Pakistan.

The world believes Pakistan is a dangerous country with Muslim fanatics

It is up to us to change the opinion of the world. We need to stand up for our religion, tell the world Islam is about love, equality and brotherhood not violence and suicide bombings. One should try to clarify misconceptions rather than give in. Why should we try to appease others in the fear of being declared an outcast? Who the hell are these people to give their opinions about Pakistan and Islam anyway? They have never lived in Pakistan, never read the Quran, what gives them the right to judge our country and our religion? They declare Pakistan to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world, yet we seem to go out, socialise, attend weddings/ parties, then why are we agreeing with them?

It is not our country which is bad, it is our people

This country has given us a place which we can call home. Whether we like it or not, we were born Pakistanis so we should be proud of being a Pakistani rather than spending our whole life trying to gain nationality to another country.

Pakistan has been resilient enough to withstand the onslaught of corruption year after year for 60 years, watching one tyrant after another, even then our country has withstood the onslaught and continued to serve its people. After a 60 year struggle it seems to be worn and tired and its now time for Pakistanis like us, to stand up and give our nation a helping hand. Wake up people, its time for us to stand up for our country rather than watch other people destroy it.

WRITTEN BY:
Nojeba Haider A corporate banker based in Karachi. Nojeba tweets @nojeba.

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (25)

Rafia | 13 years ago | Reply i think rather its 200% on the mark...love ur article...thanx Allah m just fadup frm polititicied articles(biased journalists) bt this one is relief...this z v.interesting thing u hv pointed, m punjabi well i knw this when i was in my master(msc) in QAU where there r pplz frm all provinces...i just learn frm the lap of my mother that m Pakistani...but un4tunatly i hav seen that pplz frm Sindh n other areas hav sumwhat rude behaviour 2wrds Pakistan+punjabis...i m jst surprised to c that they love to speak against punjabis n they watch us with the same eye as kashmiri watch indians(even kashmiris r right) bt m very confused still that our parent taught us 2 to love all pakistanis...then what their parents taught that hate punjabis???

jingoist | 13 years ago | Reply I agree Naeem... but lets just not be hopeless! No one else would come to us to resolve the problem unless we make our mind to do that! Bring awareness among your friend circle and ask them to do the same with others! We need to get away with the sectarian/geographical/religious blocks! Because practicing your religion doesn't have to do any thing with becoming a Nation! Lets just make our minds my dear fellows! This land is responsibility of ours! Pakistan is expecting from us and we must take the responsibility.

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Naeem Akhtar | 13 years ago | Reply Believe it or not but Pakistan also has best brains but the only problem is we have not developed the sense of Nation so far. We work hard we work good but we work as individuals. I have been living as an expat since 1 year and in this short experience of mine I was really disappointed to know that my fellow nationals will never ever think of their national image. All we always think is about ourselves. But the change is coming unfortunately its slow but its coming.

Adeel Mirza | 13 years ago | Reply Great job, Nojeba. your article gives a true sense of jingoism. bravo !!

Owais Rehman | 13 years ago | Reply I have to say that the author is true with her words. However, I might add that blaming the "people" is not a sound solution. Its merely an easy way out. When we talk off the Govt. and the ruling party, do we fail to realise that we are the ones who voted for them? Therefore, it is actually You and I who are to blame. Lets try to work on that. Good Post though!

Nojeba Haider | 13 years ago | Reply Great post. We all must join hands to peacefully eradicate evils in our society.

SKChadha | 13 years ago | Reply Nojeba Haider – I appreciate your feeling for nationalism. What one learns in early years of his life remains his ideal position unless confronted with facts otherwise. A reasonable person when roam around the world understands and compare plus and minuses of his own country, his citizenry abroad, the religious and cultural differences, the level of satisfaction in life etc. The curiosity of others and their piercing questions about your country, its people, culture, polity, weather, topography etc at times make you uneasy, isn’t it? This uneasiness multiplies when the nation is abused by own people and one feels helpless to counter it. It generates frustration, isn’t it? Your blog probably represent such frustrations and feelings of your trip. From the prospective of an outsider who has not seen the beautiful valleys of Pakistan or ever read the beautiful teachings of love, equality and universal brotherhood of Islam, it is a crippled country. For him present Pakistan is a land which is epicenter of terrorism, of religious bigotry, Muslim fanatics, absence of democratic values, inter-state rivalry etc. etc. Finding no fault in accusations of people living abroad, your anger in the end turned towards your own people and you call them bad. Nojeba, think again whether people trying to fly out from Pakistan are really bad or are just human being looking for greener pastures. Even migration of your family from India during partition was with intent to look for greener pastures, it may be religious or financial? Now being in Pakistan, as you have affinity to Pakistan, similarly people migrated from Pakistan and have greener pastures feel about the place they presently live. They can teach, preach, learn, adopt or do away with their present faith, earn good lively hood, have better environment and hygienic conditions, have better freedoms of life. In such situation why should they drag their future generations to hell? Your jingoism does not offer them anything better. “Khudi Ko Kar Buland Itna, Ke har Tadbeer Se Pehle, Kudha Bande Se Khud Pooche, Bata Teri Raja Kya Hai.”

Reza Khan | 13 years ago | Reply Liked the spirit with which you wrote. As a Pakistani born and raised in Europe, I have also recently settled in Pakistan with my family, in fact just this month. I have faith that we will persevere, and come through these crises.

Mohsin | 13 years ago | Reply Remarkable !!! 100 out of 100 to Author. Now a days we are always reading columns that are spreading disappointment and this article is a nice sweat breeze! Keep it up. Pakistan is a PASSION!

jingoist | 13 years ago | Reply I must say... you wrote everything the way I had ever wished for! Please keep on writing on this! This thought can bring alot of good change within ourselves. We ourselves are the problematic instincts who don't want to change this situation.... otherwise with no doubt... Pakistan is the best place to live in! Pakistan Zindabad!!

Nina | 13 years ago | Reply Great article. I am an expat born and raised in the west, but am now living in Pak for the last 4 years with my children. People here ask me why did I choose to come back to such a corrupt society. I say why not? How can we help the nation and its people if we, the educated Pakistanis do not stay here? I agree all societies have problems but it will take time to overcome some of the ignorance that prevails in this society. Do you think that there are no ills in the so-called developed western nations? An example, the USA boasts the largest prison population in the world. The non-muslim western nations have the highest rate of unwed mothers and half the time they don't even know who has fathered their child. Before all the expats or Pakistanis living here bad mouth Pakistan, they should think twice, because at least we walk here with our heads held high not bowed down as second class citizens in a foreign land.

mussarat ahmedzeb swat | 13 years ago | Reply reading this article is giving me hope,Our coming generation is more brighter and loyal to our nation.

Danial Shah | 13 years ago | Reply I agree to your thoughts that Pakistan should be united, a one place which we can call home. The people, not all but still, not everyone owns this country. No one owns our language, the culture, the dress, not even the land.

Rabia | 13 years ago | Reply Have you ever considered that the "we are Pakistani not punjabi not baloch not sindhi" statement has been effectively used for 63 years to suppress provincial rights? I mean, is it too much to ask that people re-examine these bromides before regurgitating them?

F Alam | 13 years ago | Reply Thank you Nojeba for reminding us! There are problems and security issues in some parts of Pakistan. It's the resilience of Pakistani people which makes us great. Recent 10 days festival in Swat shows that terrorists are not the rule, but the exception. We are certainly one of the dangerous regions of the world. But is it people killing each other? No. Are there sects fighting with each other? A big No! Are we having Kyrghistan style Ethnic riots? No way!! We understand the purpose and funding behind these acts and that is why we Pakistanis stand united. People of Pakistan are living in a peaceful manner. We will deal with the odd terrorists. As long as our people don't raise arms against eachother, I am not afraid of the terrorists and I'm very hopeful!!

cynic | 13 years ago | Reply "Ask the people who lived their life fighting for an independent country, people who never had the freedom to practise their religion." oh please. ask the ahmadis and non-muslim population of pakistan instead. "The world believes Pakistan is a dangerous country with Muslim fanatics" who are we kidding? it is a dangerous country with muslims fanatics. "It is not our country which is bad, it is our people" thanks for addressing this insightful comment harsh. i am pakistani. i wish things were better too. but deluding ourselves isn't exactly the way to go either.

furqan amjad | 13 years ago | Reply instead of remaining in denial,we should face upto the fact that a vast majority of our population clings onto attitudes & practices that belong in the dark ages.over 90% of ppl do still get married off to ppl they've not known before,the decisions been made for them by their parents in which they have no say. the honour of the males in the family is inextricably tied up with the chastity of their femalefolk,women are routinely murdered if they are seen even talking to someone outside their family.Instead of blaming foreigners for haveing such views,we should look inside & see that it is our attitudes & beliefs themselves which cause the foreigners to have such an image to begin with.

Sir Magpie De Crow | 13 years ago | Reply In recent news: Two suicide bombers struck in close proximity to a government office in the northwest tribal belt that borders Afghanistan. Current death toll is 102, more than 100 were critically injured. This attack would make it only the most lethal attack in Pakistan for this year... that rather tragic achievement may be eclipsed later in the coming months. One has to admit that even if Pakistan is not the world's most dangerous country it is most certainly dangerous enough.

John | 13 years ago | Reply Unfortuntaely, our Pakistani brothers and sisters living in Pakistan are always at loggerheads with the expat population and vice versa. What both of them fail to realise is the simple fact, their are a small minority of fickle wannabees however the majority population of Pakistanis is actually Pakistan loving irrespective of what part of the world they live, whether its the US, UK, Sweden, Saudi, Dubai, China, Hong Kong or Singapore. I respect the author's right to share her ideas, and actually endorse the fact that we are all Pakistanis at the end of the day, and as for the foreigners, they will respect Pakistan if you make them respect Pakistan. Pakistan Zindabad

sK | 13 years ago | Reply Nojeba, Good job. This makes it two of us. I know its easier said than done but we have to start from somewhere..... ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country (JFK)..... is the key to success....

Nazir Habib | 13 years ago | Reply Simple, easy reading and meaningful. Many thanx. It is true like the day / night that a Pakistani getting an overseas citizenship metamorphoses into a different corporate being. They are physically present but not mentally when they are visiting their relations or come job hunting or do business here because then they have to keep up with the Jones. (White man's clowns). Dont worry one day they will return.

Harsh | 13 years ago | Reply "It is not our country which is bad, it is our people" And you think country is just made of rivers.. land.. animals? Country is the people. Without people.. there is no country.

Binar Balouch | 13 years ago | Reply It is admirable that young journalist like Nojeba Haider can write such puff pieces about Pakistan but in all the self worshiping she has laid the blame on the people instead of the country. But how do you change the mentality that is woven in the fabric of the society where people do not respect their surrounding and their neighborhoods. When was the last time people took pride and cleaned up the disgusting areas and that corruption was not exposed at every turn. Self pride in non-resistant, the majority of Pakistanis do not promote their own colleagues and even though there is so much talent and opportunity it is limited to the rich and their friends. The caste system still exists and if one is born in the poor section of town then the future is dim. We do not need feel good articles we need methods to improve life for all.

sadaffayyaz | 13 years ago | Reply Nice write up:::::: other countries hold some myths about pakistan. The question of identity yes why not!! Our parents told us that we were muslim pakistanis. A foreigner frend of mine asked me"how do u live thre in suicide bombings and all fanaticsm". The most stupid people I found were those who went abroad came back and talk idiotically like" our child is sick in pak", "pak internet sucks", "damn hot here"....."Our child hates paki food",and things like that....

candid1 | 13 years ago | Reply The author is 100% on the mark.

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