Looking inwards

LEICESTER: This is with reference to Ayesha Ijaz Khan’s article “Forcing us to look inwards” (August 20). The West (and the rest of the world) perhaps doesn’t feel like they have much of a choice. That is why they are reluctant to come to the rescue of the Pakistani people. Ironically, the people of Pakistan seem to be as indecisive (helpless?) if not more, as the rest of the world to make any clear cut choice between the two ‘evils’: corruption, inefficiency, indifference, lack of vision and will, obscurantism and extremism.

If you have to choose between the devil and the deep sea, where do you go?  Donors of every kind should perhaps err on the side of the ‘lesser evil’. There are so many ways to help without going through the government or religious parties. And for the international community to win the Pakistani population and drag them away from the extremists, this is perhaps the best opportunity.

The Americans, who have not been faring well in terms of reputation in Pakistan for quite some time, have been winning hearts and minds through their generous rescue effort in the current floods. That should be a model for other people around the world if they have genuine interest in the welfare of humanity and who have the rationality not the bracket a whole nation of 180 million with some extremists in their country. That surely is not the case. Conservative thinking might be prevalent but Pakistani people like the rest of the humanity are biologically capable of rational thinking, progress and development. Indifference on the part of the international community on one pretext or another will push millions of people to the extremist camp, who will be more than happy to jump on the opportunity.

Muhammad Ilyas Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2010.