Re: Another “Pakistan Day”: How far are we from achieving the real dream of Iqbal??
A good write:
Pakistan Day: a resolution and resolve
Pakistan Day: a resolution and resolve
Pakistan Day is celebrated to remind the Lahore Resolution on March 23 each year. The Lahore Resolution passed on 23 March 1940 is considered a major milestone in the Muslim struggle for an independent Muslim state. This eventually led to the construction of Minar-e-Pakistan, a monument to commemorate the Lahore Resolution. This monument symbolizes a blossoming flower and reflects the joy of independence and social wellbeing of the Pakistanis.
After 75 years of resolution and 68 years of independence many think tanks and scholars label Pakistan as a nation on collapse and a failed state. Pakistan ranked number 12 on a list of the “most failed states”, according to an annual report published by Foreign Policy magazine in 2011. The amount of corruption, at times misdirected leadership and forecasting of so called intellectuals would have synergized for a normal nation to actually collapse but what keeps Pakistan from sinking is a question. This can only be answered when we start looking at those factors which are contributing to a progressive and forward looking Pakistan. There is no denying the fact that Pakistan seriously suffers from poverty, illiteracy, energy crisis, over population, inflation and unemployment. Terrorism in Pakistan has become a major and highly destructive phenomenon in recent years. The whole world looks at Pakistan as a land of terrorists. In 1947, Pakistan had 30 million people with per capita income of 100 dollars. Agriculture accounted for almost 50% of economic output with hardly any manufacturing, as all industries were located in India. This newly born feeble Pakistan was unable to feed 30 million people and was dependent on imports from the USA. From there on, we have now grown to a population of 180 million with few stories of success and lots of stories of failures.
In this Challenging environment the negativity gets more projection and the true performers stop short of letting people know their part of story. This phenomenon keeps increasing depression and despondency in the society. These are normal life cycles of any developing country. However, in the case of most of the nations, there are often good things to report and the intellectuals and researchers with support of media and government go out of way to promote these good things across the globe. The ridiculous amounts of shootings in the USA are balanced off by the success of Google, Microsoft and Apple. The financial dilemmas of Greece were lost in the marketing of the Greek Islands as a holiday destination of choice. The child slave industry of India is brushed under the carpet in favour of the nation’s growth in the global software boom.
Likewise in Pakistan the stock market has begun to improve. The index has crossed 13000, compared to around 7000 in 2009. Dependence on food imports has been reduced. As per government figures we estimate our wheat crop to be 25 million tons and cotton crop will touch 13 million bales. The fights against terrorism show a visible improvement. Overall, the number of terror attacks in Pakistan rose from about 1,800 in 2008 to more than 1,900 attacks in 2009. Suicide bombings more than doubled between 2007 and 2009, jumping from 40 to 84. The suicide attacks not only paralyzed government functionary but also restricted move of law enforcing agencies and security forces in few major cities. However, due to government’s decision and push of Pakistan army improvement can be visibly felt today.
The month of Pakistan resolution demands to find the ones who show resolve to help Pakistan grow and its people flourish. There are 180 million people in Pakistan, 65% are under the age of 25. The youth of Pakistan is its strength; it is like a sleeping giant. At universities like NED, Hamdard Karachi , Szabist, NUML, NUST and others the students are unbelievably intelligent. They spend their spare time developing Applications for android and apple. They are involved in cutting edge technology and no one in the world knows this. Everyone knows Abdul Sattar Edhi as a guardian for the poor but few know that he founded the Edhi Foundation, with an initial sum of a mere five thousand rupees. Edhi began receiving s donations, which allowed him to expand his services. The Edhi Foundation is the largest welfare organisation in Pakistan. Since its inception, the Edhi Foundation has rescued over 20,000 abandoned infants, rehabilitated over 50,000 orphans and has trained over 40,000 nurses. It also runs over three hundred and thirty welfare centres in rural and urban Pakistan which operate as food kitchens, rehabilitation homes, shelters for abandoned women and children and clinics for the mentally handicapped.
The story of resolve does not end at donations only we have examples of private business entrepreneurs which look beyond financial profitability and count their contributions for Pakistan and its people in their overall earnings. FFC the leading fertilizer producers of Pakistan, the pioneers in wind power for Pakistan has a long history of community uplift. Their focus of Corporate Social Responsibility is education and health. FFC is nationally and internationally awarded as a highly professional, reliable, socially responsible and ethically correct company which looks after the interests of all stakeholders including the community. Last year FFC was awarded by SAFA a South Asian federation for transparency and corporate governance in south Asia bringing pride to Pakistan. FFC has been listed first amongst the top 25 companies for consecutive fourth year by Karachi Stock Exchange. FFC is one of the highest tax payers of Pakistan. It paid Rs 43 billion tax last year. Their significant but silent contributions at time of calamities usually go unnoticed. Showing resolve FFC has now decided to celebrate FFC day and launch its food preservation products under name of FFF in month of resolution.
The resolve of few contributors to uphold the spirit of resolution of 23 March 1940 goes on selflessly. The gap at government and intellectual level however needs to be geared up to ensure such recognition and capitalize them to build an environment of hope showing a way forward to the Nation.
