The writer is a graduate in business management with a minor in Economics from Purdue University, US. He works in Karachi at EFU General Insurance and can be reached @ahmedi678
Many Pakistanis living abroad are very passionate about their country and its people. They play active roles in contributing towards the welfare of their country, by supporting charitable causes that are close to their hearts. However, amongst them are a few who tend to hold an extremely negative outlook for Pakistan and have lost hope in it.
By writing this letter, I urge them not to give up hope for Pakistan. There are many here, in Pakistan, who fight for justice, for equality, for education and for freedoms. Let me enlighten you about a few Pakistanis, who are risking their lives every day just to make a difference.
Humaira Bachal is a young 25-year-old Pakistani girl, who quietly campaigned in her Karachi neighbourhood of Moach Goth to educate girls after being denied her own education. She currently has 22 teachers and 1,200 students working with her.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a young female journalist and film-maker, through her documentary, Saving Face, was able to raise awareness globally of heinous crimes committed in Pakistan against women.
Mohammed Jibran Nasir is a young Pakistani Muslim lawyer, who had recently returned to Pakistan after completing his education in the UK. He didn’t only stand in the elections as an independent candidate but has been able to challenge the religious extremists on the intolerance directed towards minority sects such as Ahmadis and Shias.
Zindagi Trust, a charity set up by the famous Pakistani celebrity Shahzad Roy, is a non-profit organisation which has since 2006, enrolled approximately 3,000 students of which nearly 1,500 have graduated and are looking to continue their education.
Aman foundation is another non-profit charity set up in Pakistan that not only provides health care and education to the underprivileged but is also creating opportunities for unskilled manpower in the country.
One charity that needs no introduction and is considered amongst the largest ambulance service providers in the world is the Edhi Foundation. It hopes to build emergency hospitals every 100km on Pakistan’s highways to help with accidents and trauma related injuries. This foundation’s relentless efforts and services to the people of Pakistan have led to numerous awards, including the nomination by the prime minster for the Nobel Peace Prize for its highly respected founder Abdul Sattar Edhi. This foundation is dependent on nearly 3,500 active workers and thousands of volunteers, who help out on a daily basis.
Last but not least, I want to include in this letter, the traffic wardens and other governmental security personnel in Pakistan, who stand in the scorching heat to keep our country moving everyday and protect our citizens.
If you still feel there is no hope for Pakistan, pause and think of the millions of Pakistanis living here, who are trying to make a difference, battling for a brighter future.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2013.
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The 180 million who live in Pakistan, have not given up on Pakistan...........they have given up on those who have engineered a system where by they and they alone repeatedly come back as the leaders / rulers , sit in the assemblies . It is in fact these people our so called leaders who have given up on Pakistan but at the same time are bleeding it dry.
Boss.. Just let us have some respect in our Embassies and Pakistani Airports, increase the efficiency of National Carrier PIA, let security personnel treat us good nicely at the airports, let your Taxi driver and Porters not to rip us, let your custom officers not ask us to pay bribe while entering or leaving Pakistan..
We will be more than Happy! Thank you.
The Realist is back, before trolls from across the border can derail the comments. Good effort. I feel your frustration. It's easy to sit thousands of miles away and cherry pick headlines that are decidedly negative. Contrary to the Ostrich's belief, domestic spying (et al.) is actually much less in Pakistan than it is in many "developed" and "non security state" countries, like the US. The point is that we have many challenges, like any developing nation, whether it's Nigeria or Bangladesh or India. We have more potential than we know. We just need more citizens who are willing to help and contribute rather than just criticize. Again, good effort, and don't let the trolls tell you otherwise! Peace!
Being an oveseas pakistani myself, i have not given up on pakistan, yet. After the recent elections, we have a historic opportunity to make it a people's republic. However, who is going to bell the cats, the kahkis? Unless and untill we have all the decision making under control, bring army's budget down to average with rest of the world (and use the money for the betterment of people instead), get the tax-collection up. There is little to hope that the things getting any better. Most of the wounds that our nation is suffering(terrorism, nepotism, corruption, no money for development because we spend half the budget on defense etc.) from are self-created, largely due to being a security state.
What a pathetic article. Every country irrespective of its political/religious orientation has got some heroes and some zeros. It is a question of who is winning currently and how to defeat the zeros if they are rising and are winning. Simply quoting a few heroes is not enough. Humanity is like a mosaic, full of people of different colour, nature and mental composition. A leader is the one who shapes this mosaic. Unfortunately Pakistan never had it good in this area soon after independence and paying for its price now. The only way is to minimize hatred by correct history education and avoiding religious bigotry. A good first step is to keep religion inside the home and not to wear it everywhere. But Pak is not doing anything on this front.
Stop kidding yourself and others.