Back in November of 2005, The News published a series of articles on the good things about Pakistan that we tend to forget in the midst of our everyday lives. What I have done is reproduced each of the articles so that we can start looking at the reasons to be Proud Pakistanis.

As they do it in our part of the globe

Why would a Pakistani born Canadian and his British born wife and children settle in this country? The reasons are many

Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri

We are living in a globalized world. Globalization is not only affecting our day to day life but our families are also becoming more and more global in nature. A typical characteristic of globalized families is that their members are spread all over the world; grandparents in one continent, maternal grandparents in another continent, some of the uncles and aunts in a third one and the rest of them in still other continents. This phenomenon is replacing the traditional concepts of nationalism with new values that are above any geographical ties. These new values are somehow based on principles of human dimensions of globalization — globalization increasing the freedom of choices for human beings. With increasing choices to settle down in more than one country, the decision to settle down somewhere for globalized families is a matter of setting priorities or an issue of political choice.

By my definition, mine is also a globalized family. I am a Pakistani born Canadian, whereas my wife and kids are British born Pakistanis and we have settled down in Pakistan. ‘Why Pakistan when so many people are trying their best to leave this place?’ This is a question that I have to respond to again and again. While I am a strong critic of various odds happening in Pakistan, I also considered some positive aspects of living in Pakistan. As I am going to share some of the positive aspects about Pakistan, let me remind you that my opinion on this particular subject is biased and is valid for my personal circumstances. Readers have every right to agree or disagree with it.

My prime objective of settling down in Pakistan was to look after my ailing mother. On top of it there were some other pull factors for Pakistan. What would determine the identity of our kids was one of the major issues for us. We have seen many expatriate Pakistani families who suddenly decide to return to Pakistan as they want their kids to learn better Urdu, some basic knowhow of religion and to get familiar with their relatives. This was the main pull factor for us as well.

It is not that we lack opportunities of learning any language or religion abroad. Of course a majority of the families of Pakistani origin settled abroad speak their mother tongue as fluently and are as religious as someone living in Pakistan. However, it is the sense of inclusion that matters.

If I have to talk of ten positive things about Pakistan, my first take would be the sense of inclusion that people of Pakistani origin (or at least I) feel here. I am a strong advocate of intercultural integration and intercultural harmony. However, I do feel that my kids need to experience the sense of inclusion in order to enjoy the cultural diversity abroad. They need to know what it is being South Asian to take pride (and not to get defensive) when they would be labelled as ‘South Asians’ by western media.

The second positive thing about Pakistan for me is its strong social fabric. Although joint family system is getting diluted mainly because of economic or/and spatial constraints, the way our friends and family members are always there in the time of need is a refreshing experience. Having said this, it does not imply that in other parts of the world social fabric is not strong. Of course it is strong but in the case of Pakistan it compensates for lack of strong social safety nets in public sector. Pakistan is not a public welfare state and the responsibility to take care of each other is mostly fulfilled through our social relations. For us these relations, our friends, relatives and well wishers mean a lot and we feel protected under the umbrella of social relations.

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Back in November of 2005, The News published a series of articles on the good things about Pakistan that we tend to forget in the midst of our everyday lives. What I have done is reproduced each of the articles so that we can start looking at the reasons to be Proud Pakistanis.

Positives where criticism reigns

Surely there is more to this land than meets the eye. This is where the future action will be

By Majid Sheikh

There is one major enigmatic attribute about Pakistanis, undeniable as it is: They love to criticise their country and themselves. They revel in rubbing themselves in muck. Yet alongside this attribute they also like to laugh at themselves. Everyone thinks he is not part of the whole, yet the whole makes a delightful collage everyone is willing to protect and respect, and even die for.

The Editor asked me to write a piece on the positive attributes of Pakistan. Normally the ruling classes try to cajole journalists to be positive, meaning, thereby, to paint a glossy glowing picture of the situation. When in opposition the same journalists are derided for saying anything positive about the government. It makes better sense to point out the leading positive attributes, and also as a tailpiece to each attribute mark it with a pointer on how to further improve ourselves and our country.

The leading attribute of Pakistan is that we remain the leading country as far as making profit goes. Pakistan is fertile grounds for big and small businesses, to make profits and to prosper. For example, did you know that Citibank makes the most profit per branch, in dollar terms, in Pakistan. The same is the case with other banks. If you have noticed that given our recent troubles, by recent one means the last 20 years, not a single multinational company with fixed asset investments, has left Pakistan. If anything they have invested even more. Some have restructured, but not a single one has deserted. There are solid reasons for this.

Pakistan does definitely possess a low-level conflict situation in the shape of religious intolerance, which the government has been able to lower (lets agree on the word ‘contain’), minus the odd ‘embarrassing’ incident. But it still remains a reasonably safe country for foreigners to operate in. Many will disagree, but then ask any foreigner living in Pakistan and he will always tell of the unnecessary fuss over security. So that is a given factor. In conflict-wrecked Ireland, investment levels were higher than the mainland (the larger island with three countries!). Investments have also been amazingly high in centrally-controlled China, in self-destructing Sri Lanka, and in other such places. The real issue is profit, and Pakistan stands tall in the profit-making world.

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Flying 8,000m High, originally uploaded by jzakariya.

Pehchan kabhi na bhoolo
Sab ki nazron mein
Pakistan
Kabhi na bhoolo

Pakistan hai tumhara
Pakistan hai humara

- “Jazba Junoon” - Junoon

Since early childhood, I can remember standing in my classroom at reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. One of the most basic things that I learned in my time in the United States is that they foster national pride at every level of social development. Now, I know that the extremist view here in Pakistan is that America is “the Great Satan,” but realistically if we study what the Americans have done from childhood, we can develop a process that instills national pride into our citizens.

Let me start by explaining what I recall of my education in the United States. Every morning, when school started, the national anthem was played on the school’s internal announcement system. We all had to stand for the national anthem and place our hand over our hearts. After the national anthem, before sitting down, we would recite the pledge of allegiance. A pledge that is supposed to signify what it means to be an American

“I pledge allegiance to the flag…,”

The United States has federal laws protecting the American flag. It is not allowed to touch the ground. It can not be burned. It can not be treated with disrespect. These are all federal crimes for anyone in the United States, citizen or otherwise. Every developed country has laws protecting their national flag.

But it goes much deeper. When I was in school, part of the curriculum was to teach children about the flag and how it came to be, starting from the original 13 colonies, including the Confederacy, and concluding with the modern day American flag. We were taught about Betsy Ross and the tireless work she did to sew the first American flag.

We were taught that the first step to national pride was respecting the flag.

Now, I have noticed in Pakistan that the national flag is not a symbol of respect or pride. Before you all start to fume about that comment, think for a second… on your house, do you have the national flag flying or do you have a political party flag? When you see protestors on television burning the flag, does it burn you inside knowing that the symbol by which Pakistan is known in the world is being desecrated?

Would you tolerate it if a foreigner were to do that in front of you?

Then why do you tolerate it when Pakistanis do it?

A quick quiz…

What is the Pakistani flag called?
Who created the national flag?
When did it come into existence?
What does it mean?
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