Book Launch: Identity crisis haunts Pakistani society: Rahi

Author of ‘Pakish Identity’ talks about promoting soft power of the country

ISLAMABAD: The people of Pakistan are suffering from an identity crisis, said Danish Rahi, the author of a new book “The Pakish Identity”.

“At the heart of the problem sits the issue of identity crisis, a lack of direction and leadership, and confusion that is slowly turning into mass hysteria and chaos throughout the country,” he said at the launch of his book at the Nomad art gallery.

Rahi was of the view that Pakistan among the countries embattled with terrorism and remains at the epicentre of the great divide between modernity, liberalism and militants.

At the launch ceremony, he showcased a self-designed symbol for the national currency inspired by the Pakistani flag. The symbol merges art with calligraphy and with the values of the nation blended together to form a unique innovative Pakistani currency symbol.

Rahi, a design thinker and a strategist with over 15 years experience of corporate American at fortune 500 companies and some of the largest ad agencies in the world, has tried to expose the hidden dimensions of Pakistani life in his book.

To substantiate his case, he has narrated some real-life incidents and creative concepts in an engaging and thought-provoking style.

He said that the Pakish Identity introduces its readers to the numerous unutilised ‘soft power’ resources which Pakistan currently lacks.

“Our resources are being taken and utilised by entrepreneurs of other countries by reshaping the name and the identity of the product,” Rahi lamented.

Explaining his narrative, Rahi said a particular breed of dogs raised in Pakistan, the Bully, which now the Germans have also started to breed. But unlike the German shepherd or the American pit-bull, the Pakistani canine was not given its due national identity.

“I would suggest naming it the Pakish bully,” he offered.

He quoted his Turkish friend who said “when in Turkey if we have a crow, we present it as a peacock. But when you have plenty of peacocks, you present them as crows.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2016.