About a year ago to the day, in the aftermath of last year’s floods, the World Food Programme announced that roughly 70 per cent of Pakistan’s population did not have adequate access to proper nutrition. The summer months of 2010 were akin to a prolonged nightmare for Pakistan and its people with millions either dead, homeless or hopeless. But natural disasters occur and you have to deal with them. The aftermath of the floods resulted in global mobilisation of both Pakistanis and non-Pakistanis. Most importantly, many Pakistanis who were spared by the devastation opened their eyes and arms for compatriots who needed their help. The tragedy of last year’s floods is not that they happened, but rather that we failed to ensure preparedness once the rains returned this summer.
A year later, it is sad to see the country rapidly heading to a similar state of crisis. It is almost criminal that millions are once again suffering from severe flooding, in the same areas that lived through a nightmare as recently as last year. We cannot control what the heavens drop down on us, but we can control how we cope with what is dropped.
While the rains are drowning lives in Sindh, mosquitoes are biting away in Punjab. Dengue fever is not foreign to Pakistan. We have faced the disease for several years and yet we are dealing with it as if we are as helpless as Londoners were against the plague in the 17th century. Learning from what has occurred in seasons passed, we should establish working systems not only to treat the disease but also to prevent it from happening in the future. The task is not impossible as Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia have all combatted the disease. Instead of implementing precarious stopgap measures and hoping the disease does not return, we need to face the problem and solve it.
In demanding times, great nations rise. The Japanese did whatever they could when struck with an earth-shattering quake and accompanying tsunami. In the aftermath of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plants, the Japanese government asked its citizens to reduce electricity usage. As a result, recent data shows that usage has decreased by 20 per cent.
As citizens, we have shown in the past that we are able to serve when called upon. But instead of simply reacting, we need to start pre-empting. We have to start asking ourselves what it means to be a nation and not just a collection of people. We need to ask ourselves what is required to put Pakistan back onto the right path. Young people need to get involved. This is our country and we have to make it the place we know it can be.
While we cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand, there is no need to be unnecessarily pessimistic. We are in an era of struggle, but we must not forget that it is the generations that pull nations out of such holes that are etched in the memory for eternity. It is a testing time to be a Pakistani, but also one that presents immense opportunity. Let us cross the hurdles we face, learn from our mistakes and reclaim this era. This is Pakistan’s time; there should be no looking back now.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2011.
COMMENTS (8)
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Well written. Pakistani people are great, the leadership is poor.
Great article... keep it up!
Dear Brother,
Hope you will be doing great. I wish to congratulate you for this thought-provoking note. It's very appealing and touched the strings of my heart making me proud of you. Words fell short when i planned to express myself to be among those who possessed same emotions and feelings about this beautiful land of ours but couldn't really transfer on paper. No doubt, if we instil unity in our people,this nation can work wonders and can change the fate of this country. We need to assist our youth to explore their individual talent. You have done an excellent job to mirror our youth at such a platform. Being an agent of change,you shall continue this work to awake our youth and motivate them to find new ways to be constructive. Three words are difficult to utter "FAULT IS MINE". It's the high time to forget our grudges and accept the challenges to chase our dreams because to fulfil the dream is to wake up. It's a wake-up call.
Long Live Pakistan.
Regards, Asif Mushtaq
Things like dengue epidemics, seasonal and flash floods, earthquakes, etc. can be categorized as disasters - natural or man-effected. These disasters are an acid test to measure a nation's strength, toughfness, adaptability, idomitability and, after all that, elasticity and resilience. Great nations emerge victoriously in greatly testing times. We,despite having attained numerically an age of 64, still lack maturity. Though we have the capacity to deal with these calamities once they raise their ugly head yet we are utterly unable to foresee the shadow of horrible coming events and get fully prepared and well-equipped to strike them head-on.Our commission-making and enquiry-initiating practice never gets exhausted.Look busy, do nothing is the definition of our Efficiency. Our generosity is far more muscular than our preparedness and capacity building. Once the disaster is handled, immediately we get oblivious of its root-causes. We even don't know that nations across the globe has not only learnt to tame the wild forces of nature but master and harness them as a source of energy. It is a sort of generating-opportunity-out-of-calamity approach. We lag far behind in the race of nations owing to our unwillingness to have an eyeball to eyeball encounter with the rapidly emerging ground realities. We are never ever prone to change. Cheers to rigidity! Culture is though preserved best in traditions yet ill-found traditions may lead to retrogression and backwardness. Here we have to set our priorities anew. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. This is need of the hour. Preparedness, capacity building, proper education and the training to meet crisis and disasters boldly and pre-emptively are the tools to get a way out of these things. Khan you drove the nail aright!
very right said.........! it is indeed our time........! we should explicitly use our strenght which we hold to cop all the adversities we face.........! we are strong enough to tackle this.........!
I like the idea that it is not really the end but a challenge to improve. Only revolutions change things quickly. But we know those who came marching in calling for revolution are the ones who did more damage to our confidence and respect. The world we are living is geared towards the individual, and dominated by consumerism and celebrity, we are constantly encouraged to choose a better life for ourselves and not bother about others around us. The weight of each choice and the super-abundance of options can cause crippling anxiety and we defer to others to make the right choices for us. When we do get what we want, fulfillment is swiftly replaced by dissatisfaction and desire for a better option. It may look like an evil circle but it can work if there are some like Ibrahim Khan to tell us to limit our egoistic ways. I agree with him that it is not all doom, at least not yet.
well written and very motivational. Sometimes when I feel like all hope is lost an article like this inspires me again!
Very well-written article. The country has its hopes pinned on the youth.