Pakistan: The Way I See It

I witnessed the concept of patriotism from the song Dil Dil Pakistan that came in the early 90’s. Seeing my father dressed up in a camouflage everyday just kept adding to it. Getting a chance to see most of the cities and their life style, culture and traditions aggravated it further. Having a peaceful childhood without any bomb threats made me fall in love with my country. Until one day I heard my father screaming ‘Oh crap’ and that is when I found out that the world trade centre collapsed. That was the time I started getting familiar with who Osama Bin Laden was, who were the Talibans, what are terrorists. Sadly, it was the beginning of an unfortunate decade. The US soldiers took over Afghanistan and I became more familiar with what was going on since it was a neighboring country and I learnt in grade 5 that Pakistan has 5 neighboring countries India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and China. In our drawing room I used to hear my family talking about the US invasion and the Talibans.

President Musharraf took over and I was instantly in love with him due to his courage and charm, since I took his autograph before he became the President and I often used to show it off to my friends. Musharraf always wanted Pakistan to be recognized at a global level, he joined hands with the US to fight against terrorism because he thought US was an important ally. The religious groups in the country went against him, the extremists were triggered and that was the start of terrorism in Pakistan. The extremists started bombing the country extensively. The frequency of the bomb blasts increased every year. I remember our schools being shut a lot of times because of the bombings.

The northern Pakistan was captured by the terrorists that included Afghani’s, Yemeni’s, Uzbek’s and others. And instead of fighting America’s war, here we had to fight against terrorism in our own country. Suicide bombings became a routine, the morale of the people went down immensely. And by the end of the same decade we were carrying out a war within our own country. We were not terrorists, but became victims of terrorism. The west took advantage of the fact and did not leave a single chance to make us recognize as terrorists. Only because we were Muslims and we had an important geo-strategic place in the region.

Today, I think to myself why the world can not see the real us. Why can they not come out of their shells and assumptions and see the real face of Pakistan. Why don’t they recognize that we have the best tourist attractions but it ruined because of the ongoing war which did not even start because of us. Why can’t they see our fertile lands that produce a variety of crops that are exported and fruits that taste better than many countries?

Our country has modernized immensely over the past few years. We have a free media; we have internet, high rise buildings, international chain restaurants and what not. Why are we recognized as a third world country where we live like monkeys who do not have cell phone and the internet? At the same time we do have many things that need to be improved but then again which country is perfect? The world needs to open their eyes and start considering the good things that we have in our country rather than emphasizing on ‘terrorism’ alone.

Yes our literacy rate is not as high as many countries but still our children top the GCE ‘O’ levels and ‘A’ levels results. They are geniuses; they are the ones who get the most scholarships to go and study in the west. Though they are often ridiculed because of their color and backgrounds but that can not change the fact how smart they are. There are many NGO’s that are trying to increase the literacy rate of the country. There are still many cities that have the highest literacy rate. If you travel to Hunza Valley where Agha Khan has a strong hold, every child is getting educated and they have a hundred percent literacy rate. Hundreds of schools for girls in the northern area have been bombed because of the ongoing war and terrorism. But we have every right not to be discouraged and known as a terrorist country.

There are many times when I get disappointed, but I can never lose hope in this country. When this country needs to be united nobody can beat them. Last year, our country was hit by one of the biggest natural disasters, but the entire country came forward and helped each other. There are many things that make us proud of the country we call our homeland, instead of giving up we should do everything that we can in our own sphere. We should not be discouraged that we are being recognized as terrorists rather we should stand up and prove the world wrong. After all the sacrifices our ancestors made for the independence of this country, we should never give up and we should love this country. If we want the world to fall in love with our country, we have to stand up for it first.