Party At My Country!

Sometimes the psyche of Pakistanis is hard to understand. You would think 62 years is enough time to learn a lesson yet, once again, we are defying the norms.

It saddens me to see average, quite decent Pakistanis still arguing over their political parties as if they themselves helped to create them. For 62 years these parties have proven their incompetence and lack of commitment to the Pakistani people yet we still fight tooth and nail for them. We still vote for the same tested and failed parties and actually have expectations from them. We still wave their flags and paste them on our cars. We still praise their founders and lay down our lives for them. We curse friends and relatives over them.

Why are we like this?

The messy mosaic of political parties and their race for political domination has divided us further and deeper with each passing year. We have the Muslim Leagues rooting behind the Punjabis, we have the PPP crying about the Sindhis, we have the MQM glorifying the Muhajirs and we have the Balochistan National Party fighting for the Balochis.

Isn’t there any party out there working simply for the Pakistani? Why do we not see through these efforts to divide and destabilise Pakistan? Pakistan belongs to the Balochis, the Sindhis, the Punjabis and the Pathans. It belongs to the young, the old, the rich, the poor. At least, it should. While a certain amount of provincial autonomy is necessary to keep Pakistan stable, these parties have begun to demand complete statehood altogether. It’s as if no one has learned from 1971.

The ruling elite cashes in on our communal sentiments to further their own gains. While some of their actions are genuine efforts to develop Pakistan, too many times they have sacrificed this cause in favour of personal gains.

They address us in terms of “Sindhis” or “Punjabis” or “Pathans”, etc over and over again in a war of psychology. Never do they address us simply as Pakistanis. We must not let this underestimation of our unity become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

If Pakistanis are to resist fragmentation of their state, they must work under the flag of unity. Leave behind these petty, blind political allegiances. The educated need to understand that the break-up of Pakistan is in the interests of many foreign powers. The illiterate, lower classes don’t care about the technicalities. They believe what their tribal leaders tell them and that is the propaganda to be countered. We need a positivity movement led by the youth. Who else?

When The Quaid said unity, faith, discipline, he meant it. We must prove that we understand.

Romesa Khalid