Re: Expat Bhai/Baji, Pakistan is Pakistan yaar!
The countries that we live in didn’t develop themselves in 65 years in the midst of wars. It took them a LONG time to get to the stage that they’re at right now. Some of the social issues facing Pakistan right now were prevalent in our countries as recently as the 1980’s. Ehsan uncle has spoken about the kind of racism he had to deal with in the UK, people didn’t want to be audited by “a brown guy”, despite the UK being considered a developed country back then. And please don’t get me started on how many colonies had to suffer just so the British empire could flourish.
I’ve grown up in a former colony and so I feel more strongly about the ugly colonial history than others. This country’s history actually reminds me of Indian/Pakistani history. Anyone heard of the Great Famine? It was “a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration” under the British rule and that is what heightened Irish nationalism, eventually leading to the country’s independence. Sounds similar to the nightmare that Indians and Pakistanis went through before, during and after independence. The issues facing Pakistan right now e.g. inequality, lack of education, energy crisis, poverty, violence etc are those facing any other developing country but made worse because of the war situation. History tells us that when people are pushed over the edge, they do react and they react big, like they did last century. Pakistanis are being ripped apart by multiple forces right now, some of them their own, and sooner or later they’re going to retaliate InshaAllah. Andheri raat k baad he ujala hota hai. Pakistan is a young developing country in turmoil, it’s going to take a while for it to reach the level of stability that our countries have attained and it took them centuries to do so.
Expat Pakistanis are a very important asset to the country. I am determined to take part in some grassroots initiatives InshaAllah one day. We have the resources available to us that the average Pakistani who survives on under $2 a day doesn’t have. May Allah swt make us all capable of making positive contributions to the country in whichever small way.
The way things are right now, Pakistan is on the road to becoming the next Afghanistan. Sitting here I don’t see much hope. All I see is people regressing back the way they were in the stone ages.