“There is no power on Earth that can undo Pakistan”, that was the unshakable conviction our founding father Qaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah and his close associates had about our home country. The foundation stone of our beloved home was laid down during the first war of independence in 1857 and it took 90 years of a very long struggle of fighting for rights, freedom, religion and lives before earning the well deserved independence for a separate homeland.
It has now become the dilemma of our nation that most of our people are taking this independence for granted. They are even going farther to challenge the core foundations of Pakistan. There are numerous conflicting schools of thoughts which are polarizing and in actual challenging the very existence of this country. Our liberals are still not willing to be acquainted with the ideology of the country which is based on two nation theory while our religious segments are not in a frame of mind to allow any non-believer to dwell in this country which is against the objective resolution of Pakistan; Our foreign funded civil society is at war to introduce the alien westernized concepts whereas our conservatives are not desiring to let go of all those medieval believes and past glories; our political representatives are merely striving hard to get extra ‘black dollars’ while our large army of bureaucrats are working vigorously to find ways to pollute, corrupt and destroy every public entity of the country; our private sector is venturing with foreign conglomerates to sweep up the remaining rotten industrial structure whereas common people are struggling hard to find ways to live or to survive.
Pakistan was not established to be at war with conflicting ideologies. In fact, it was established to be at peace where different schools of thoughts are synchronizing to live in harmony like a beautiful bouquet is created with different color flowers. This country should be a place where every citizen irrespective of religion, caste and language live with peace and harmony. Every citizen should be given equal opportunity in every walk of life.
Conversely, last week Moulana Fazal-ur-Rehman one of the prominent national politico-religious leader announced that he and his party would not celebrate the national holiday of the country simply because he was unable to win his traditional seats from his traditional constituencies. Similarly, Mr. N Sharif thrice the premier of Pakistan and the ex-head of the mainstream political party of the country over numerous occasions challenged the core ideologies of the country. Should this be the patriotic level of our national political leaders? On the other side, Mr. Husain Haqqani the ex-ambassador and Pakistani journalist along with many other intellectuals with similar stature on various times have been found guilty of lobbying against Pakistan. Should this be the duties of our intellectuals and technocrats?
Today, Pakistan is bleeding. It is bleeding not because of the wounds given by its foes. It is bleeding because it is hit at heart by its own citizens the real perpetrators; those citizens who were dwelling in this country; those citizens who were given the best available opportunities and resources; those citizens who were destined to rule the nation; those citizens who run the public entities; and those citizens who were foreign-funded.
With the termination of the second decade of the new millennium, this country is going through a drastic transformational phase. It has the second highest young population in the world. It has one of the most potential economies. It has the highest number of un-taped resources. It has one of the highest numbers of intellectuals and technocrats. It is located at the centre of the world’s political and economic stage. This means that Pakistan has numerous opportunities in the coming years to come. The question remains that what is now lacking in Pakistan?
There is nothing wrong in Pakistan. It is only we, the citizens of Pakistan, missing one thing in us and that is ‘the Conviction and Loyalty’. We at the core of the heart are not sincere with our country. We as a nation either don’t know that true essence of the freedom struggle of our founding generation or we have forgotten every bit of it; we as a nation either self-consumed in our day-to-day activities or we are only thinking about our own vested interests. It is the high time for us as a nation to revisit to the very core of our ideology. We must learn from our founding leaders who have many things to offer us. They were the best men of their times and they achieved their targets by working politically and by using the laws of their foreign occupiers against them. We as a nation must stick to the golden words of our founding father in order to excel in times ahead.
“Work honestly and sincerely and be faithful and loyal to the Pakistan Government. I can assure you that there is nothing greater in this world than your own conscience and, when you appear before Allah, you can say that you performed your duty with the highest sense of integrity, honesty and with loyalty and faithfulness.”, the Governor General Qaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah addressing on 14 February, 1948 to the Civil Servants of Pakistan.
