There are times in the life of any nation that it’s people must take off their rose- or black-colored glasses and take a hard honest look. I think that this is without a doubt one of the hardest things for anyone to do, whether they come from the developed world or the developing world. In the developed world, everyone says that if things were just a little bit better here, here and here, life would be more comfortable. They have an understanding of what is right and what is wrong with their home, neighborhood, community, city, state, and country. They may not agree with much of the assessment, but they do understand that they have a role to play in the success of their nation.

In the developing world, the beast is much different. Information is everywhere, analysis is at a premium. Don’t get me wrong, there are numerous soothsayers on every corner, mosque and home in Pakistan, but being able to dig deeper than the surface… well, that’s just not done. The developing world always looks for a scapegoat for their problems and lack of progress. Rarely, will you find people that are willing to take the blinders off and tell the truth about what the real root of the problems. I am one of those people.

Those of you who are regular readers of this blog, or have had interaction with me, know that I don’t wear glasses Rose colored or otherwise. I have a penchant for pointing at the elephant in the room and asking “What do we about that?” And from the number of readers that come by for a cup of coffee and a little enlightenment, I think you would rather I continue that way.

You also know that I have a very diverse upbringing and background, with a majority of it living in the United States. When I returned to Pakistan in 1997, I set out on a journey to learn and understand my home country of Pakistan. After 10 years of living, working and interacting with Pakistanis of all walks of life, I would like to think that I have gained a very good understanding of what makes Pakistan lag behind the rest of the region and why we have not been able to grow beyond “an emerging Asian tiger” for the past 20 years, while India has exploded economically right next door.

These are going to be somewhat long posts, so be forewarned. This is the first of a 5 part series on the State of Pakistan today. The series will appear each day in a new post, so please come by and have a read… also, please share your thoughts and experiences so that we can understand other people’s view of Pakistan.

I don’t know how many of you have ever had the opportunity to visit Pakistan or read about it, but it is a beautiful country from it’s people to it’s God-given natural beauty. But for those of you that have visited my home country, many of the these things will ring completely true, while to others it may give you a real understanding of why Pakistan is the way it is. Either way, since neither the international or domestic media would like to talk about these things, let’s get started.

Education = Business

When a country is not educated, how does it make it’s decisions about social, economic and civil development? Better question, who makes the decisions? This has been one of the core problems that all Pakistanis struggle with. In Pakistan, education is provided like a business, not a national service.

Our government schools are a complete farce. In our government schools, teachers come to school infrequently at best, read the paper when they are there, rarely teach anything to the students and spend most of their time talking to other teachers about current events. Even worse, many of the government schools are just shells for the distribution of money to people. Government teachers that don’t come to work are still paid their full salaries because of special relationships (read bribes) with the right government authorities. As a result, most of our population can barely write their names in Urdu, forget English, and reading Urdu… well, that will get better over time.

On the flip side, the private schools of Pakistan are nothing more than country clubs for teachers. I have briefly taught at one and have friends/family that currently do. See, wealthy Pakistanis are bastards! They are dirty, money loving bastards that should be castrated so their future generations don’t pollute this planet! Let me tell you why….

Wealthy Pakistanis like to open schools, because there is no other business model in Pakistan that pays more for no investment. So they rent a school, hire a few people to teach (notice I did not say teachers), decide on the components of the uniform, books and steal the curriculum from any school they think is a good standard. Yes, I said steal. I have yet to find a wealthy Pakistani that will take the time and money to determine the best education standard for their school, without saying “English medium schools earn more money.” After deciding all of these things, they will go out and rent a building that can be used as a school. Now, I need to stop here for a second and clarify the definition of school in Pakistan, because it is not what you are thinking:

School (n):

An extremely small building located in a residential area unable to support the amount of traffic and parking required.

Can not have a playground, activities area or anything that would allow the children to enjoy their time outside the classroom.

A canteen, not cafeteria, will be provided to students with items that cost 4 times the price of the market outside the school and are completely unfit for the child to be eating

A School bus will be provided to transport your children to school but will be driven by a suicidal man who won’t treat your children with any respect unless they give him money. Also, you should be aware, the bus driver doesn’t have a license nor is he able to read

All school supplies (books, notebooks, uniforms) will be sourced from the most unreliable vendor so that the costs of getting the required materials are more than sending your child to Harvard for a semester

Teachers will be taken on an availability basis and not assessed for knowledge, ability or temperament. Leave your children at our school at your own risk

We will not assess your children fairly, but pass them every year so that you don’t complain and, much worse, stop paying us for the shabby education that we impart to your child

Due to our useless teaching standards, you will be required to place your children with an after school tutor otherwise they will never learn anything. The cost of the tutor is not included in the cost of the school fees

We assure that once your child graduates from our school they will be worse off then they would have been if you had kept them at home

Now that we have clarified the definition of school in Pakistan, I think that I can move on to the next point. Suffice it to say, these private schools are breeding the destruction of the nation, while these same wealthy Pakistanis send their children to private schools in other countries to assure that they will continue to be bastards.

Castration would be too simple…

Money = Respect

So when the majority of your populace is only mildly educated, it’s quite easy to fall under the spell of money. Those who have it are in positions of prestige, power and (what we think) success. Those who have it are also able to wield unstoppable power over government officials, industry leaders and politicians. Thus, those who don’t have, believe money to be the only way to get that power…. and there begins the journey.

When you only understand money to be the defining factor of value in a human being, things like education, civic sense, law abiding go out the window. “Money is and money will be.” And we both know that when you stop worrying about your conscience, you can make money in a variety of immoral ways… welcome to modern day Pakistan.

I know that sounds harsh… but it’s true. In Pakistan, the only goal is to get more money, no matter it be by honest or dishonest means. The traffic police take bribes to not write a citation. The city police take bribes to register cases, real or false. Politicians take bribes in the guise of aid donations to their party to continue to support someone’s agenda. Bankers take bribes to draft false documents for visa submissions. Business managers take bribes to appoint people to jobs. Where does it end?

We have created a society of criminals that feed on the honest Pakistani until they just give up and give in.

We Are Not Pakistani

“A Nation Without Heroes is a Nation without hope.” I don’t remember who said it, but it is so true of our nation. When you look around the world, every country has heroes that children look up to, that mould their characteristics as a person.

Can you think of your childhood heroes? Can you think of the people that you model yourself after as an adult? Why did you choose them? What characteristics do they embody that makes them worthy?

For those of you that are Pakistani, can you name our national heroes? Jinnah, Iqbal, A.Q. Khan (whether you like it or not), a host of cricketers and media personalities? How many of them do you what to be because of who they are not what they are?

There are no identities, as Pakistanis, that influence us more than the personalities and celebrities from around the world. We as Pakistanis are no longer Pakistani. We spend more time watching Indian televisions shows and movies than we do watching our own Pakistani ones. Now, I do understand that there is a quality difference in Indian and Pakistani cinema, but our television dramas have had international-recognition well before the Indians developed their cinema dominance. As a result, Indian (Hindu) traditions and mannerisms have started to penetrate into Pakistani (Muslim) culture. The traditional Muslim wedding is now more like the Indian weddings in the movies than a Pakistani celebration.

What has been the driving factor in this loss has been the marginalization of the national language, culture and literature. Pakistanis no longer think Urdu is either fashionable nor spoken by anyone who is anyone, which explains why everyone and their driver are trying to speak English. As we all know, when you stop learning your national language, you lose your link to the culture, traditions and values espoused by that language. The loss of the national language has also led to the growth of regional languages that have their own values and traditions. Now, Pakistan is made up of Pathans, Punjabis, Sindhis and Balouchis, each speaking their own languages and practicing their own traditions leaving no room to be Pakistani.

The part that hurts me the most and makes me believe that there is very little hope for Pakistan, without a national awakening, is that there is no national pride. We are not Pakistani anymore. Our culture and environment is flooded with influences from around the world, and because of our inherent ability to pretend to be something we are not, we have espoused the values of the Americans, Indians, British, anyone, except Pakistani. The loss of national pride has immeasurable implications on the fabric of the nation. Let me explain….

When you no longer respect your country, you no longer follow its rules. When you no longer follow its rules, you no longer respect the soil. When you lose respect for the soil, you start to rob the country for your own gain.

As Pakistanis, we don’t follow basic traffic laws, like stopping at a red light, and get upset with people that do because they are making us late. As Pakistanis, we don’t believe that we have any civic responsibility telling our maids to throw the plastic garbage bags into the sewer system. As Pakistanis, we pay bribes to building inspectors to pass badly constructed buildings that will later collapse, just to make more of a profit.

And we blame the government because we can not accept responsibility for our own actions.

National Symbols

The last thing that I want to touch on today, and it is something very close to my heart, is about our national symbols. We have a flag. It is a beautiful flag. People would kill if that flag were to be threatened by outsiders or attackers. Yet, we treat that flag with so much disrespect and contempt that we don’t deserve to be called Pakistanis. If there is one thing that I firmly believe, it’s this: when you don’t respect your national flag, then you don’t respect your country.

In Pakistan, we don’t care if the flag hangs properly outside our homes or offices.

In Pakistan, we hang our flags upside down and say “it doesn’t matter.”

In Pakistan, we hang torn and dirty flags because we can’t be bothered to clean it before we hoist it above our homes.

In Pakistan, we treat the flag with the same contempt that we treat other Pakistanis….. ever think about that?

This is the first part of a 5 part series that will end in the start of something different. I am not here to complain about the country and not do anything about it.

What I do ask is that if you agree with what I have said, you forward this on to other Pakistanis that share your views. Also, make sure that you read the entire series, so that you understand where we are and more than anything else…

Share your thoughts and comments. This is about our home country and it is time that the people stopped talking and start doing!

See you tomorrow for Part II.

Related posts:

1. One Nation, Indivisible with Liberty and Justice for All
2. I Don’t Wear Glasses…. Rose Colored or Otherwise - Closing
3. Taking a U-Turn from Failed State
4. I Don’t Wear Glasses…. Rose Colored or Otherwise - Part IV
5. I Don’t Wear Glasses… Rose Colored or Otherwise - Part II
6. I Don’t Wear Glasses…. Rose Colored or Otherwise - Part III
7. Re-Imaging Pakistan

Browse Timeline

• « The Darkest Day In Pakistan
• » I Don’t Wear Glasses… Rose Colored or Otherwise - Part II

Comments ( 5 )