What happened on March 23?

All nations celebrate their national days, but how far does this reach out across our country?

Each year, March 23 is celebrated as Pakistan Day with great patriotic fervour. On this day, newspapers publish special features, TV channels run special programmes and the president and the governors confer civil awards on lackeys and others. Right-wing parties present the day as a milestone for the victory of the two-nation theory. So far, so good. All nations celebrate their national days and there is nothing wrong with that. It helps in national integration and consensus on the basis of a past. But how far does this really reach out across the length and breadth of our country? The following may reveal some truths.

Activists of Tehreek Bahalia Sailabzadgan and office-bearers of a local NGO, Women Concerns’ Network, had arranged a public meeting to celebrate March 23 in Kot Addu. It is worth mentioning here that Kot Addu has provided us a number of great leaders: From Mushtaq Gurmani and Hina Rabbani Khar, to Mustafa Khar himself. At the jalsa were about 1,500 flood-affected women and men. Over two dozen speakers addressed the jalsa. Every speaker narrated what had happened to them during the last floods and all of them blamed Zardari, Gilani and Shahbaz Sharif for their miseries. People also talked proudly about their encounter with the Judicial Flood Commission which had recently visited Abbas Bund, Taunsa Barrage and TP Link Canal breaches. No one — including the organisers — spoke about March 23.

At the end, I was asked to speak. I told the gathering that $210 million was still lying in the Prime Minister’s Flood Relief Fund and asked why it had not been distributed. I asked why the government was refusing to tax the rich. I told the gathering about the inauguration of the construction of luxury apartments for lawmakers.

I also wanted to tell them about the significance of March 23. But I thought first I should ask them about it. So I posed a question to the women first and then to the men. My question was, how many of you know what had happened on March 23? All the women raised their hands and when I asked the men, they too raised their hands. “What?” I asked. “The flood,” they replied.

I thought they might not have understood my question, so I elaborated. But the answer was the same. What this reveals, I leave for the readers to decide.

Both military and civilian rulers have failed miserably in reaching the vast majority of our population, even with their so-called patriotic rhetoric and the so-called two-nation theory. A country where the vast majority is alienated, kept ignorant and feels cheated by the state organs and by the political leadership, cannot continue in this vein for long. Attention rulers: Read the writing on the wall or be ready to face what is happening in the Arab world.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2011.