A more positive Pakistan

One of the keys for successful psychotherapy is self-acceptance and perhaps that’s what Pakistan needs the most right now

My article last week on the plight of academics in Pakistan received quite a few comments and was seen by many as a negative depiction of the country. So, I was determined to look at the brighter side of things and in my endeavour to view a more positive Pakistan, I ended up writing this piece.

This month has been quite eventful for Pakistan as the nation appeared several times in foreign media but for all the wrong reasons. First, there was the Safoora bus attack in which a religious minority group was brutally attacked. This incident revealed the religious intolerance that prevails at a large scale in the country. It is no longer confined to the terrorist groups only but includes all those who believe such attacks on humanity are “not such a big deal after all”. Fatima Bhutto’s comment that followed this incident aptly classified Pakistan as a ‘country of ghosts’ which is adamant upon killing its own people.

The next big news from this part of the world was about Axact, an online company distributing bogus degrees to individuals and minting money. The news was uncovered by a New York Times reporter on Monday and stirred up much debate everywhere. Different news stories are budding following the first round and are providing an insight into how the company functioned without being caught for so long. The interesting thing here is that the company managed to sell degrees to people across nations.

Another news story that just surfaced on the media was about the jailing of PIA steward who was caught at the Birmingham airport for smuggling fake passports in March. The 59-year-old Shaukat Ali Cheema had spent four decades of his life working with PIA and only in March this year was he caught red handed as he tried to smuggle 26 passports and 37 passport bio-data pages in his underwear. He got caught and was jailed and as a result Pakistan made it to the headlines again. Then, there was the story about haram, diseased and dead meat being sold across the country and efforts to control it.

These are just a few recent examples of the negative news that is being disseminated about the Land of the Pure. As citizens of the country we should accept the fact that these are real events rather than misattributing it to jealousy from the ‘outsiders’. One thing that we are good at, as a nation is rationalising each and every event and moulding it into a conspiracy from the ‘rest of the world’ to put us down. Rather than accepting our flaws, we defend ourselves and often indulge in the blame game and wrongly believe that the entire world is out there to get us. Such paranoid thinking would lead us nowhere. If we really want any change in the status of the country, we must first candidly mention all the things that are wrong with the country at various levels. Speaking and hoping positive for Pakistan is good but anyone who denies all evil would be best classified as imbecile. I do not mean to depress Pakistanis as there is hope for our country. We have bright and focused individuals that are setting world records in computers, academics and filmmaking. There is hope for change but we must accept that things are not the best that they could be at the moment. One of the keys for successful psychotherapy is self-acceptance and perhaps that’s what Pakistan needs the most right now rather than closing our eyes to reality.

And then there are some exciting news stories too. Pakistan ranked number four on intelligence and Pakistani men were ranked the third sexiest in the world in recent global surveys. Some updates from the Khans of Pakistan are particularly fascinating: Reham posting an advertisement for selling Imran’s chappals and Shahrukh Khan appreciating Mahira’s work in an upcoming movie. Also, not to forget, Fawad Afzal being invited at Piku’s success party hosted by Deepika Pudokone. There are good things rolling too and that my friends, is the brighter side of Pakistan. So turn to the Entertainment Page because that’s where the good news awaits you.