From Canada
IN 1947 my grandparents, residents of Kernal, India, migrated to Pakistan. They arrived with mere Rs20 and no place to go to.
They left their extended families, ancestral graves and family inheritance in Kernal to start a new life in Pakistan. All they had was hope, faith and patience. They believed in Pakistan.
Today we have achieved the country that they dreamt of. We are a nuclear power. We were home to some of the world’s finest names: Dr. Abdus Salam, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, Guljee and Iqbal Hussain, and the likes. Our writers are globally recognised. Our artists perform worldwide. Each year our students set new records in Cambridge. Our engineers and doctors are spread all over the world. We have one of the world’s strongest army. Our schools, colleges, universities and technological institutes have dramatically increased since partition.
We won the 1992 cricket World Cup. We made our place in hockey and squash. One could never have imagined that one day we would have a woman prime minister, a woman speaker and a woman general. The state-owned unilateral channels have flourished into independent media.
Our television viewership is worldwide. We proudly have an independent judiciary. Islamic banking has become a trend. The Edhi centre has the world’s largest ambulance network. We are on the verge of becoming a true democracy.
In 1947, we were a country with questionable future. Our very survival was sceptical. Today we are a country that everyone knows. Call us whatever you want to: an ‘international migraine’ or a ‘rogue state’. The fact is we survived and we will survive.
Yes, there were certain bad decisions and miscalculations. There were military regimes and civil dictatorships. But the fact that today we recognise democracy and stand up for our rights shows that we have grown up.
We recognise women like Mukhtaran Mai and appreciate movies like ‘Khuda k liya’ and ‘Bol’. This shows that we are not desensitised to brutalities in our society. Time and again, we have proved that we are not blind to corruption, nepotism, favouritism and jobbery. We recognise these as vices because we believe in meritocracy.
Today, whenever I feel disappointed with the power crisis, water shortage, terrorism, corruption, violation of human rights or mismanaged institutions, I think about my grandparents who arrived with nothing except a belief in Pakistan. I believe in Pakistan and I know that we shall overcome all our weaknesses.
AYESHA AIZAZ QURESHI
Canada
I lived for around 6 years abroad and lived with joy. I am in Pakistan for the last 3 years now and i find it hard to survive although i am highly educated by standard and earning alot. I still want to do something for my country but I want to serve with the foreign currency i will remit through proper banking channel. I dont want to pay tax on salary here because i know my employer is not going to deposit it in the government treasury, and if after a couple of years he will deposit after income tax final notice (if that ever come) that will too not be utilised for building Pakistan. If somebody is looking the light at the end of the tunnel believe me that is a torch beam.
Bad memory goes by another name..it is nostalgia!
Yes, Pakistan, these are not the best times to be alive but I promise you we will live through it and survive! This is an uncertain juncture and we reached here together. There are so many factors that brought us here but I admit that I am responsible too. I under estimated the value of my vote. I refused to open up to enlightenment. I did not give democracy enough support. I declined to pay my taxes. I kept my personal interest way too up high on the pedestal. I forgot that you are the source. I forgot that you are my home. I am sorry!
This Eid, I like to give you something: a promise. I will keep my heart and soul alive. I would not let rampant violence desensitize me. I will not let the changing times put off the sparks in me. I will use my vote sensibly. I will give democracy a chance. I will seek and spread enlightenment. I will become a responsible citizen. I will stop blaming others and I will start solving our problems. I will believe in you!
You can crush all the flowers but you cannot stop the spring- PABLO NERUDA
By reading comments and analyzing thumbs up/down.. one thing gets very clear that is INDIAN MENTALITY.
I respectfuly advise the author to walk the talk, surrender Canadian citizenship and serve Pakistan. Your grand parents and millions came to Pakistan with just “hope”. be a role model and show the world we can sacrifice everything for our homeland!
Good to see all those comments..friends, do you know that it takes 20 years to bring an overnight change for a nation? and the change is coming..bit slow though..
You have to wake up and smell the coffee?
Ayesha, Ignore the negative comments. Living in Canada has nothing to do with your level of love and patriotism. I loved your article. great work
We should be proud Pakistanis no matter where we live. Sometimes people forget all the foreign dollars that are sent to Pakistan that helps run our economy as well as our welfare agencies.
Cheers, an big supporter
I live in Pakistan. Everything bleak discussed above is true. There is no need of such corrupt system of governance in Pakistan. The whole Pakistan could be run by Pakistanis living abroad as the country is already at the alms of the US aid & IMF dole outs.
A typical fact deprived Pakistani!
Please leave Ayesha alone, she is entitled to her opinions. What about the rest of you!!!!!! Are you all waiting like vultures for the end??? What happened to Pakistan is all our failures, look in the mirror and see what oue people,yes our relatives have done for the sake of greed. These are the people we know and our proud to call our own. We are killing our own kind, look in the same mirror and you will see your own dark end. It's never too late to revert, change our destiny wether we live in Canada,USA or Europe. We must either go back or have people among ourselves that care for Pakistan, leave greed and all the wordly sins for this world. Look at the mummies of Egypt, everything they gathered in their tombs are still rotting in their tombs. Do we want to be a nationless people??????
Aysha, please return to Pakistan, You are needed.
What hogwash (for want of a better printable adjective).
You need to get an education.
Seems like Ayesha is one of those Pakistanis who have been in Canada for many years now.She haven't been to Pakistan since last 15-20 years and now suddenly started day dreaming about Pakistan.
Dear Madam Ayesha
Sitting on the earth, the moon seems beautiful and romantic and exudes a very gentle soothing luminosity. But as you get closer to it the craters, unliveable conditions, barren landscape etc all become visible thus shattering the myth.
Ayesha, which planet do you live on? May be there is another country by the name of PAKISTAN on a remote planet in a galaxy 200 million light years away from our solar system.