The lost land

With talks of Chandrayaan 3 going around and masses congratulating our neighbours, we’ve been on quite roll as well. Advocate Latif Khosa was stuck in a malfunctioning elevator located within the Islamabad High Court premises with many saying he was deliberately targeted. We had President Arif Alvi alleging that his staff had forged his signatures on the Army Bill as well as the Official Secrets Bill. And we had film actor Shan saying we don’t need to go to the moon because the moon came to us, alluding to the moon on the Pakistani flag.

Prima facie, the future of our country seems to be in safe hands and we do not need to worry about a single thing.

One thing I forgot though. The neighbours had Chandrayaan 3 taking off for the moon whereas we had the dollar taking off to a staggering Rs320. So, let’s be proud that we had some aspect of a take-off going on.

Despite all that, lets breathe, take a step back and see where we went wrong. Was it the myriad martial laws? Or was it incompetent rules, or both? My money is on both. But what’s done is done. Have we taken any steps to improve? Not that I recall. And no, handing out laptops does not equate to progress.

Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The name sounds so sweet. It’s the beauty of semantics where you envision a state which strictly adheres to the religious code while ensuring upholding of the rule of law. About time that we got rid of certain terms because they tend to get thrown around too irresponsibly. Terms like ‘rule of law’, ‘constitution’, ‘Islamic republic’ and ‘speedy trials’.

You see kids, once upon a time in the 1970s and 1980s a man arose from the ruins to set a precedent. For him, making history was important and what fine history he made. Once he was done, he left behind a mess. A mess that we continue to deal with today. He laid the foundations for religious extremism, intolerance and a widespread theocracy. Amongst all this, those who came after him thought they could rectify what our man had done but upon arrival, they realised they could instead benefit from what he had done. Each time they adopted his tactics, the crowd cheered their name and our leaders thought to themselves ‘you know what, I’ll just keep going along, this is fun’. That man later faced what we call today ‘the case of exploding mangoes’. Although no one deserves to die, but sometimes God just has different plans.

Presently, inflation is on the rise, citizens are sick of the politicians they have and the law-and-order system is crumpling day by day. The future seems dim and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

The solution? Education. It will yield results not in a heartbeat, but in years. Even today, we have fine, educated, visionary and informed minds in the country who have earned their degrees from Ivy leagues and are ready to serve the country, provided they are given a chance. And despite having such individuals, we are unfortunately stuck with the same politicians we have been sick of for years.

Pakistan is in desperate need of quality public education, good schools, colleges and universities with reasonably competent professors. The single national curriculum needs to give way to a curriculum which encourages questioning. Yes, inculcating religious values and principles within students is just as important too but let’s leave that aspect to the parents rather than bestowing that responsibility upon teachers.

Let us not forget about the perpetual struggle of the Baloch people who, day in and day out, continue to suffer and continue to be oppressed. We can only prosper and move forward if everyone agrees to be on the same page.

Until then, it is safe to say that we the people face unconstitutional lies, in greed we trust, in revolution we die.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2023.

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