Congratulations to you all on being the ‘first-grade’ citizen of Pakistan!
I often get into bizarre discussions when people say that partition of Pakistan and India was not a fine conclusion or that both countries could have lived like they were living before the British colonised India, but never ever have such discussions led anywhere.
We all must thank God that today we are living in an independent state and in a secure environment.
My today’s piece is for all the young minds out there who are ‘deviating’ from their own roots and culture, thinking that India is a much-developed country, a free and liberal state with fun-loving people (this is just what the Bollywood shows).
For a while, put your cell phones aside and sit with the elders of the family and ask them what they had gone through during the partition, which is still the world’s largest migration and partition.
Do you know that casualties during the independence of Pakistan were around 250,000? Almost 12 to 24 million were the refugees who came and settled here but most of them were injured and could not survive later.
Coffins had ended in the bazaars and dead bodies were being wrapped in papers. Who was killing who was not known but Muslims were running away from India and the Hindus and Sikhs were looking for an escape route from Pakistan and chaos and commotion was on both sides.
This turmoil was only for freedom. Now think how precious is freedom and it demands lives. It’s not a piece of cake!
People migrating from India to Pakistan were brutally killed, robbed, and their body parts were chopped off and thrown on the way to teach others a lesson but still, this mayhem could not curb the passion of the migrants and thus they reached Pakistan losing their beloveds on the way.
Ask your grandparents about the trains filled with blood and dead bodies that reached Lahore and the wells that were filled with women who committed suicide to escape violence.
Today we must be grateful for the efforts and respect the blood of our forefathers which I can still smell in the soil of this country.
No country is perfect. Even the developed countries have menaces of corruption, political instabilities, and social upheavals.
My question is that why doesn’t their issues get highlighted here and why the new generation has developed a charisma of studying abroad, settling there or copying others’ culture.
Why is India the ‘incredible India’? Do you think that India is far more urbanized and nonviolent? It’s not. It is plagued by social evils among other issues. But they don’t highlight them.
While here in Pakistan we need to make sure that every corner of the country knows if something horrible happens in Pakistan. It might not be good for the future of Pakistan. The issue is with the way we project Pakistan, and it needs to be amended.
For example, terrorism, it’s not in Pakistan only. But it is the only country that has got a reputation for terrorism.
Are you all sure that no other country in the world is going through one or another type of terrorism? Are there no bomb blasts or suicide attacks in any country of the world? Again, my question is that why are those things not being highlighted before us?
Other countries teach their citizens patriotism, but we don’t.
When a child is born in our society he or she is made to idealize the western life, television teaches most of the Indian culture and schools have a tilt towards English and ‘unwanted’ modernization…which we do not actually need as many parents are in a mess because of that.
I think Pakistan in its own culture is modern enough and to observe this you can visit the old settlements of Lahore where you will see how bold the women are and how well-knitted the family ties are.
What we need to do after 72 years of independence is strange but that is the need of the hour. We need to inculcate nationalism in society.
The government needs to play its role and the private bodies need to pitch in as well. And, yes the media will play a vital role in promoting this.
Our younger generation needs to know the cultures of Pakistan. They should take pride in the national language and learn it.
They should be told that they belong to a country full of resources and that they have a “duty” to serve this country, which has given them the “freedom of movement and speech”.
The younger generation needs to value this country without getting into the issues of goods and bad as every place in the world have some positive and negative. We owe a lot to our forefathers and this country.
It is because of them that we are living in a safe country, where our lives are not at stake because of our religious beliefs. You sleep serenely at night and the day is full of opportunities for you.
Thank God for being a first-grade citizen of a beautiful country.
