Pakistaniat

PAKISTANIAT

by Nayyar Hashmey

The ATP Blog founded by Dr. Adil Najam is a portal where I find myself quite at home. The very first name of the blog is unique, daring and thought provoking. Let me explain:-

It’s unique because Pakistaniat is something which has almost been non existent (at least on the web). Pakistaniat has hitherto, been a phenomenon or say a term which in Pakistan as well as abroad was being taken more in a negative than a positive sense; so credit goes to A.N. to venture in a way that Pakistanis can now take pride in their Pakistaniat.

It’s daring because to talk of Pakistaniat among Pakistanis is like talking Greek to an Englishman. A.N. has taken a bold step in making his fellow Pakistanis feel proud of being a Pakistani and of their Pakistaniat.

And it’s thought provoking too because much of the content in his blog makes us to think some time for hours and another time for days. Think what! Why Pakistan our dear homeland has not been able to come up to expectations of Jinnah and Iqbal.

When I think about this question, to my view comes the credo of Pakistaniat.com.

Ham dekhain ge, Lazim hae ke ham bhi dekhain ge

Ham dekhain ge, Wo din ke jiska waada hae

Jo loh-e-azal main likha hae, Ham dekhain ge

Jab zulmo-sitam ke koh-e-giran,
 Rooi ki tarah ur jaen ge

Ham mazloomain ke
pao talay,
Jab dharti dhar
dhar
dharkay
gi

While I view this rendering on YouTube, the drama, the episodes, the actors and the villains come right before my eyes. I can watch who did what with this beautiful land, this paradise on earth called Pakistan and who did his utmost to turn this into hell.

It starts with the Qaid and the Shaheed-e-Millat, the two heroes followed by most of the villains, the military dictators of the yesteryears.

First comes Ayub Khan, a general who abrogated the 1956 constitution without any rhyme and reason. During his “decade of progress” the country lost its borders and rivers to its neighbours. Instead of a sovereign parliament “basic democracies” were hatched by his authoritarian regime. He formulated his own constitution in which all powers were vested in the President, who was none else than Gen. Ayub himself. No wonder that late Ch. Muhammad Ali (one time Prime Minister of Pakistan) termed this constitution like “Ghanta Ghar” of Faisalabad.

Ironically the same Gen. Ayub Khan could not respect even his own constitution which ordained that if the incumbent President was to leave office, the speaker of the National Assembly would replace as the new President. However, when political pressure mounted on him to abdicate, he handed over the presidency to another general, this time Gen. Yahya Khan, the C in C of Pakistan Army.

The new general and the President could not even retain the unity of the country. Under his presidency Qaid’s Pakistan was dismembered, its larger component East Pakistan seceded from its western wing and ultimately declared independence as the new state of Bangladesh.

The third general Ziaul Haque not only abrogated the constitution once again, but also lost the most strategic part of Siachin. Even then he had the temerity to say “Siachin main tau ghas tak nahin ugti”.

Our generals can’t understand that this sacred land of ours, whether desert, cultivated, not cultivated, harvested not harvested, our mountains, our rivers, our deserts, even the harsh polar like Siachin are as sacred to us as any other part of Pakistan. No Pakistani can even imagine of losing a chunk of this soil to any other country and yet a general would say “In Siachin there doesn’t grow even a stalk of grass”.

The video now turns to the fourth general who staged a coup d'etat against a democratically elected government (though political governments too have contributed to this shameful state of affairs, yet even the worst political government does have some semblance of peoples’ wishes – which military rulers are nether trained for nor do they believe in such things of “bloody civilians”) and has run the country for 8 years. During Gen. Musharraf’s rule this country faced the worst shortages of wheat, cooking oil, of electricity and last but not the least an absolute law and order situation. The country’s major towns have experienced tragic explosions resulting in loss of life, civilian as well as armed personnel. Even to this day Pakistan army is fighting its own people in the tribal areas.

In spite of all these shameful acts of “progress” the President who is a former COAS-cum-Chief Executive-cum-Every thing is still hanging on to power under one pretext or another. The people of Pakistan gave a verdict in Feb. 2008 elections, yet the incumbent President is in no mood to leave his office.

But the question still remains. Even if he leaves, who will be accountable for all the mismanagement, all those misdeeds, the bad governance which was thrust upon the people without any asking on their part? Just yesterday PML-N President Mian Nawaz Sharif, at the last leg of the long march by lawyers and the civil society, said in Islamabad “How can Musharraf Pervaiz ask for a safe passage to leave, when he himself didn’t allow a safe passage to innocent, young and unarmed daughters of this land while reciting holy Quran in Jamia Hifza, who were shelled and killed through the armed might of his para military forces”.

Coming back to ATP credo, after all these happenings, the video ends with a happy note.

Aur hakam ke sar ooper

Jab bijli kar kar kar karke gi

Jab ehle-Khuda ke kaabay se

Sab butt uthwai jaen ge

Ham ehl-e-safa, mardood-e-haram

Masnad peh bithayay jaen ge

Sab taj uchhalay jaenge

Sab takht girayay jaen ge

Bas nam rahay ga Allah ka

Jo ghaib bhi hae, hazir bhi

Jo manzir bhi hae, nazir bhi

Uthayga “ainul-haq” ka naara

Jo maen bhi hoon aur tum bhi ho

Aur raj karegi khalq-e-Khuda

Jo maen bhi hoon aur tum bhi ho

And I do believe as all my fellow Pakistanis believe, Pakistan shall Insha’ Allah emerge as Pakistan of Qaid and Iqbal, a great nation, not necessarily in size, but great in values, great in honour and great in stature (Amen)


Well done Adil Najam, we owe lot of thanks to you.
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