A country like Pakistan which is facing a severe economic crisis, straining under galloping inflation and a debilitating budget deficit cannot afford to extend shutdowns for days to observe religious festivities, mourning death of politicians, or on other pretexts.
Malaysia is a Muslim majority country, which during past three decades has progressed from an under-developed nation to a major financial center in the Far East through sheer hard work and a leadership which focused on developing human resources by investment on education and health. Law and order is strictly maintained and no individual, however powerful, can get away with a crime or even a minor violation of law. This Eid-ul-Fitr occurred on Sunday 19 August in Malaysia. There was only one official holiday for Eid and since it occurred on Sunday, all government offices, banks, airline offices etc opened on Monday for business as usual. The only exception was the PIA office which was closed and so was the Pakistani embassy. Unfortunately, Pakistanis try to emulate the lives of oil-rich Arab countries, observing extended religious holidays.
Malaysian Muslims are as devout, if not more, than Pakistani Muslims; yet there has never been sectarian strife in this country. Pakistan unfortunately, in utter disregard of the Quaid’s vision, has degenerated into a country addicted to holidays, corruption, nepotism and poor governance. Just imagine, the president declared a public holiday to mourn the death of his mother-in-law who died in isolation in Dubai. In the past there have been other inexcusable decisions to declare holidays such as Pakistan winning a cricket match against India during Zia’s tenure. A politician in exile is murdered in London and Karachi is shut down for days and over 50 innocent citizens killed in cold blooded target killings.
Is it not enough that all kinds of violence (killings, protests, terrorist attacks) bring public life to a halt every now and then? Or do we need more holidays to bring everything to a standstill in utter disregard of its social and economic impact. If we are to progress, we need to work hard. For that, we need to learn to take fewer holidays.
MIR TASSADAQ
Lahore