If we are to emerge out of this muck as a stronger nation, then it is paramount that we think about our children.
MEDFORD, MA, US: Imagine being a child growing up in today’s Pakistan: you encounter rolling blackouts on a daily basis, watch and hear bomb blasts every once in a while and have to hunker down at home when the security situation in your vicinity turns sour. If you have a television in your home, then you are surrounded by, at least, an hour of news during which images and sounds of death and destruction encapsulate your growing mind. You have rarely seen any major sport events in stadiums, have wondered why your parents freak out if you are five minutes late while walking from the corner store in your neighborhood, and know more about ethnic and sectarian conflict than your parents did when they were your age. This is the environment in which our children, the future and the ultimate inheritors of this land of the ‘pure’, are growing up in today.
Meanwhile, our politicians and civil society, are dazed and confused, and unable to provide society with any leadership. Speculation about the presence of ‘foreign hands’ in the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi is at the top of their agenda. A comment about a separate Hazara or Seraiki province is breaking news. Real discussions about education reform, healthcare, and leaving behind a better nation for our children just don’t make it to the television screens. Our narrow interests of protecting our sect, ethnicity and class are top priority.
Our economy is in tatters and requires international bailouts every few years. We have been unable to eradicate polio from our land — in fact, we are one of a select group of countries that are still afflicted with polio. We are lagging behind the world in educational standards (millions do not even get to go to a school). Our rivers are polluted, our streets are filthy and we may suffer from water and food shortages in the coming years. In all, we are set to leave our children with a tremendous amount of debt, life-threatening diseases, a skill set with which they are unable to compete in the world, a deteriorating environment and the potential of death through starvation. Sadly, our politicians, instead of framing the debate based on these vital issues, indulge in petty and foolish debates on television on a daily basis. In the meantime, a generation of Pakistanis is being lost and the future continues to darken for our nation.
But with everything that divides us, there is something fundamental that can and should unite us: a better future for our children. No human being, whatever his or her ideological thought might be, wants to leave behind a world where the future of their children is bleak. From the tribal areas of Waziristan to the slums of Karachi, every single parent in Pakistan wants their child to have a better life.
If we are to emerge out of this muck as a stronger nation, then it is paramount that we think about our children. Our leaders must move above their narrow self-interests and make bold decisions to safeguard the future generations of Pakistanis. They must frame the message in a manner which resonates with all of us. To have an impact, this message must connect with the population and its aspirations for a better future for their children. This force can unite our country and mobilise its citizens to work for a better future. It can heal the wounds of the past, lessen the hatred that separates us and make us desire for a country that is worthy for our children to live in. We do not have to agree on everything as a nation, but there must be a single point where we are not willing to make a compromise — the future of our coming generations.
Uzair M Younus
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2014.
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