Pakistan’s Split Personality Disorder
We like to blame our leaders for everything but in reality they have the same flaws as us.
The writer is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and currently teaches journalism at SZABIST in Karachi
“Did you hear that Pakistan is handing over Gwadar Port to the Chinese? I think it’s is a great idea. In fact, I think we should hand over the entire country to them and let the Chinese rule us. Our so-called ‘leaders’ have damaged Pakistan to the core; there’s no security, no electricity and no one respects us in the international community. If only we had real leaders, who would work sincerely for the country instead of working for themselves.”
“That’s a fair point my friend but the real problem isn’t with our leaders, it’s with us. Have you ever seen how we behave at a traffic signal? Most cars break the signal when there’s no traffic policeman around and then we complain about there being no rule of law in the country. How can we blame the powerful for not respecting the law when we don’t respect the law ourselves? We’re hypocritical to the core. We like to blame our leaders for everything but in reality they have the same flaws as us — except their failures are public, whereas we can hide personal shortcomings within the mediocrity of our lives. A nation’s leaders are no better or worse than its people. We have no one to blame but ourselves for Pakistan’s problems.”
“I accept that our moral values as a nation have declined but that’s because we choose to ignore our religion. If only we went back to the real spirit of Islam and realized the humanity and beauty of our religion, our problems would cease to exist. I know of many liberal and secular folks who argue that our problem is too much religion in society but they’re unwilling to accept that Pakistan is already a deeply religious society and instead of fighting against the tide of faith, they should aim to de-politicise and de-militarise religion. When someone argues against religion or religiosity, they end up losing public support even on their well-intentioned social reform agenda. I believe religion can be a force for good, playing an important role for social uplift in Pakistan.”
“This is precisely the problem with Pakistan yaar. We’ve been best friends since grade two but I’ve always been wary of your religious prescription for solving Pakistan’s problems, even though my position has nothing to do with religion itself. My problem is that Pakistanis are always seeking divine intervention to save us from ourselves. We place our trust in the famous three A’s (Allah, Army, America) instead of making a genuine effort to improve ourselves and those around us. We talk about imposing religious values in society but the truth is that we can’t even celebrate Eid on one day as a nation because we’re so busy fighting with each other over the moon sighting. The only thing I’m happy about this year is that instead of seeing the moon earlier than the rest of the country, our pathan brothers embraced the tsunami of hope in these elections before the rest of the country. I feel our Captain will really make a difference in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and his tsunami will sweep the next general elections.”
“Man, you know I voted for the Captain too but secretly I was relieved that he didn’t win at the national level because his team simply doesn’t have the experience and maturity that the PML-N brings to the table. There were many uncles in my family and my mosque who told me not to go to vote because democracy isn’t compatible with Islam and all our leaders are the same but I didn’t agree with them. I feel we need to make a difference in society by standing up for what’s right and speaking up with our vote. I feel strongly about this because I can still vividly remember all the details of the moment our lives changed forever: I saw you consoling your mother — fighting back your own tears — when your father was shot dead in a targeted killing against Shia doctors in Karachi. I’ve never been sadder, angrier or more frustrated in my life. You were 13 at the time and you didn’t deserve this. That’s when I made a promise to myself: I’d never physically hurt anyone in my life no matter how passionately I disagreed with them. If only we could spread this message to others without feeling it’s too late already.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2013.
“That’s a fair point my friend but the real problem isn’t with our leaders, it’s with us. Have you ever seen how we behave at a traffic signal? Most cars break the signal when there’s no traffic policeman around and then we complain about there being no rule of law in the country. How can we blame the powerful for not respecting the law when we don’t respect the law ourselves? We’re hypocritical to the core. We like to blame our leaders for everything but in reality they have the same flaws as us — except their failures are public, whereas we can hide personal shortcomings within the mediocrity of our lives. A nation’s leaders are no better or worse than its people. We have no one to blame but ourselves for Pakistan’s problems.”
“I accept that our moral values as a nation have declined but that’s because we choose to ignore our religion. If only we went back to the real spirit of Islam and realized the humanity and beauty of our religion, our problems would cease to exist. I know of many liberal and secular folks who argue that our problem is too much religion in society but they’re unwilling to accept that Pakistan is already a deeply religious society and instead of fighting against the tide of faith, they should aim to de-politicise and de-militarise religion. When someone argues against religion or religiosity, they end up losing public support even on their well-intentioned social reform agenda. I believe religion can be a force for good, playing an important role for social uplift in Pakistan.”
“This is precisely the problem with Pakistan yaar. We’ve been best friends since grade two but I’ve always been wary of your religious prescription for solving Pakistan’s problems, even though my position has nothing to do with religion itself. My problem is that Pakistanis are always seeking divine intervention to save us from ourselves. We place our trust in the famous three A’s (Allah, Army, America) instead of making a genuine effort to improve ourselves and those around us. We talk about imposing religious values in society but the truth is that we can’t even celebrate Eid on one day as a nation because we’re so busy fighting with each other over the moon sighting. The only thing I’m happy about this year is that instead of seeing the moon earlier than the rest of the country, our pathan brothers embraced the tsunami of hope in these elections before the rest of the country. I feel our Captain will really make a difference in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and his tsunami will sweep the next general elections.”
“Man, you know I voted for the Captain too but secretly I was relieved that he didn’t win at the national level because his team simply doesn’t have the experience and maturity that the PML-N brings to the table. There were many uncles in my family and my mosque who told me not to go to vote because democracy isn’t compatible with Islam and all our leaders are the same but I didn’t agree with them. I feel we need to make a difference in society by standing up for what’s right and speaking up with our vote. I feel strongly about this because I can still vividly remember all the details of the moment our lives changed forever: I saw you consoling your mother — fighting back your own tears — when your father was shot dead in a targeted killing against Shia doctors in Karachi. I’ve never been sadder, angrier or more frustrated in my life. You were 13 at the time and you didn’t deserve this. That’s when I made a promise to myself: I’d never physically hurt anyone in my life no matter how passionately I disagreed with them. If only we could spread this message to others without feeling it’s too late already.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2013.