There is hope

The lighter side of Pakistan that does not make the headlines

“Great were the lamentation and the cry when the news of this mischance was noised about the city. Such a tumult of mourning was never before heard, for the whole city was moved.” Marie De France once said.

So goes the story of Pakistan. A story of lamentations by a people short-changed by destiny.

Some say “Hack the country to pieces. It was never a legitimate whole to begin with.” While others shout “The partition was flawed. We should have never split from India.”

“The generals are bad,” bemoan the “bloody” civilians. Who really calls it an army anyway, better to call it a land grabbing mafia — they say.

“No, it’s the mullahs – those foul ushers of 7th century Arabia!” cry the secular minded. And not to forget the schizophrenics, of which there are many, who see the “external hand” in everything. Who are convinced that even the 2005 monster earthquake which turned entire villages to rubble had nothing to do with plate tectonics or fault lines as is with normal earthquakes i.e., the ones that occur outside Pakistan. This earthquake was in fact quite obviously the handiwork of the great global Satan, America.

No one is above this din. Not even Imran Khan, the man who gave the country a cancer hospital to its sick, schools to its uneducated, and above all a hero – in his own person — to people who have only known villains. But they call him “Taliban Khan” while they stay glued to Amir Liaquat on their television sets.

One often hears that female participation in the country is lacking abysmally. True to a degree, but have we lately paid attention to the shopping malls in our capital city. Where once one saw male guards, we now see female guards standing together with their male colleagues

Some begrudge the country from afar. They spit vitriol in creative word constructions like global pariah or international migraine intended to cause maximal pain. And it does. Because for millions who have grown up here, breathed its air, drank from its waters, dreamed and despaired in its highs and lows, for them this country, with all its land down to the smallest globule of dust, is home. It may not boast of towering scrapers, glittering glass buildings and 5-lane freeways, but it is in all its sights, sounds, and smells – home. And anyone who has had a home knows exactly what that means. It means that no matter how much one may pretend otherwise, insults hurled at their home hurt. And they hurt a lot. It also means, that despite creeping disillusionment, against the howling darkness of gloom and despair, the candles of hope will never burn out, because there will be many hands to light up the flames when darkness descends.

And we see quite a few candle bearers if we look around. In a country where the distinction between women and property is blurry, we saw a 14 year old girl standing up to murderers and their murderous customs. She nearly lost her life, but survived, and went ahead to seal the Nobel peace prize for the very country that tried to kill her. Today the same girl is appealing to the international world to give more to Pakistan in education and aid, to stop the drone strikes, to build rather than destroy.

And what if we are to tell someone that one of the few people in the Muslim world to have climbed Everest is from Pakistan, and a woman at that. That her name is Samina Baig — the first Muslim woman to actually have climbed Everest. Surprise, surprise. Note to those who think Pakistan is merely a land of burqas, skullcaps and flowing beards: they may have been looking at Saudi Arabia. It is true the country has its conservative elements, but sometimes we focus too much on them and miss the Samina Baigs and Arfa Karims (a child prodigy who became the youngest person to get a Microsoft certification; a true gem that we lost in 2012). We forget our women’s cricket team that recently won us a gold medal at the Asian Games Twenty20 tournament.

One often hears that female participation in the country is lacking abysmally. True to a degree, but have we lately paid attention to the shopping malls in our capital city. Where once one saw male guards, we now see female guards standing together with their male colleagues. Or our combat Air Force that now boasts female pilots. And what about the halls of power? A look at women members in parliament demonstrates that things are not as bleak as they seem. We are above many countries in this metric, in some cases exceeding countries more advanced.

Perhaps one of the most encouraging recent developments has been the rise of arts and literature, with more and more kids breaking into arts and humanities. Last year, in 2014, some 50,000 people attended the LLF (Lahore Literature Festival) – yes 50,000. Just a few days ago, after a suicide bombing in Lahore, the 2015 LLF was held. There were initial plans to cancel the proceedings given the security situation, but Lahore nevertheless went ahead, celebrating arts and casino online literature in true Lahori spirit.

No more do we see a hankering for some messiah from the sky to take on the bad guys. Now it is the mainstream people who are taking to the streets, demanding justice

While Fox News focuses on Moslem terror, how many know that a Pakistani filmmaker has brought Emmy fame to the country. Documentary film Outlawed in Pakistan, directed by Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann, won the Emmy for ‘Outstanding Research’. The film was also nominated in the Outstanding Informational Programming-Long Form. This is two years after Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy’s documentary Saving Face won an Academy Award.

The Tech world isn’t too far behind. The tech start-up space in Pakistan is expanding. Just a few months ago, e-commerce company Markhor, a specialist shoes estore, became Pakistan’s most successful Kickstarter campaign catching global attention. Technology incubators are coming alive. Co-working spaces for freelancers are cropping up — Basecamp in Peshawar, DotZero and HQ in Karachi and TechHub in Lahore.

And in the conscientious dissent department, there too lies hope. No more do we see a hankering for some messiah from the sky to take on the bad guys. Now it is the mainstream people who are taking to the streets, demanding justice. Lawyer turned activist Jibran Nasir comes to mind – a young man spearheading the campaign to reclaim our mosques and incarcerate our Maulana Abdul Aziz types – the type that preaches martyrdom and then flees in burqas when close to achieving it.

And finally, say what you will about Musharraf, today we have a media where nothing escapes scrutiny and most of the credit goes to the ex-general himself. In this, Pakistan is actually ahead of the curve compared to most countries. And this is laudable. Tune in to a random talk-show and behold the evisceration of those in power. Political satire is everywhere and no one is spared. This is hardly a country where dissent is stifled.

Yes, we know we have animals in our midst. Those who want to impose a fabled past upon us. And yes, we know we have gas shortages, power blackouts, runaway inflation, poisoned water, improvised pharmaceutical products, broken roads and broken hearts. We have dengue and polio. We have hospitals in decay and factories in retreat. We are a nation scared. Barbed wires cover our crumbling walls. Snipers guard our private schools and prayers guard the public ones. Yet in all this, we have a population two-thirds of which is under 30. And among them are many heroes. Not saviours clad in knightly armour, but just regular mainstream people turning against the tide leaving little eddies in their midst.

And in this there is hope.