The mango republic

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Many argue that Pakistan has become a banana republic. I came across a news item, which had conflicting stories about it, but it basically said that Pakistan had won the battle over rice ownership in the global market against India. I am a direct witness to the fact that Pakistani rice is sold in America under the Indian label. Rice and banana might be significant in being associated with Pakistan, what's rather truer is that Pakistan is actually a mango republic, but not for the reason you think.

You might have noticed that men who are very tough on their wives and children are very timid in public and with their friends and peers. Similarly, men who are always ready to war with the outside world are the nicest and softest with their family members at home. States are no different. Countries that are timid in their foreign policy, kowtowing to foreign powers, and very laidback over their sovereignty are usually very tough on their own citizens. Such states are quick to relent to foreign powers, ready to appease other states, eager to earn a favourable image in the eyes of foreign powers. These states are soft on the outside.

But when it comes to the rights, liberties, safety and security of their own citizens, these states are never compromising, never relenting, and ever recalcitrant in ceding their godly powers. Sticking to their soft skin, they allow foreign soldiers of hostile and enemy states go unpunished after they make a deadly attack on their soil, while punishing their own citizens for exercising their own rights enshrined in the constitution. Such are the tendencies of mango states. Mangoes are delicious from the outside but tough and tasteless once you reach the inner core.

America is the toughest of all adversaries when it comes to global affairs. It not only can obliterate nations within minutes, but can also twist the arms of nations around the world to achieve what it considers good for its national interests. However, the same tough state cannot do the same things with its own citizens. America didn't even hang the man who attacked a sitting president. Hinckley Jr was not sent to the gallows after he attacked President Reagan. And he had done that just to impress Jodie Foster, the beautiful blonde from the movie Taxi Driver at the time. Such a state did not punish such a man because the man was insane, not the state.

In mango states, citizens are punished not because they try to assassinate some leader in order to impress Reema or Meera but because they want their legitimate rights and freedoms. And the state punishes them for that urge exactly because while the citizens are sane, the state is not.

Is it any wonder then that while in other states people take pride in their citizenship and foreigners and immigrants yearn and struggle to become citizens there? Is it any wonder that many of those immigrants aspiring to become citizens elsewhere are actually from Pakistan?

I have lived the Islamabad life for a while and I know for a fact that there are tiers of classes inside Islamabad. It is a city full of very prejudiced and materialistic people. Your respect is determined by which sector you live in, how much English you can speak, how western you are in your dressing and habits, and, whether you have a foreign passport. The ones on top of this citizenship-driven respect hierarchy, if you will, are the ones who are citizens of the United States, followed by Canada or England. I guess there is a tie there. The Americans take pride in being citizens in their country. Pakistanis take pride in not being citizens of Pakistan. Pakistan produces some of the most delicious mangoes in the world. But the country itself is one giant mango. Always ready to be served, ready to be eaten, eager to entertain foreigners, excited to get an American tap on the back.