Ever wonder why
As I digest the endless stream of bad press about my country of birth, I feel utterly powerless to do anything but to pick up my pen (or laptop) to vent some anger and hopefully stir some thought.
I do wonder what it will take for the common man/woman to rise up against the establishment – much like the Red Shirts in Thailand. It seems the vicious cycle of ignorance, religous dogma and fear of the unknown has dulled our minds and seriously weakened our resolve.
Our so called “foe” India with all it’s social and religious ills still managed to produce leaders who had the vision to invest in Education and infrastrusture that has started to pay dividents back to the entire nation. About the same time the likes of Nehru were sowing the seeds of change back in the 70s, our ‘capable’ generals led by ZuH were plotting to destroy the future of the next two generations.
I sometimes wish somebody had the foresight and guts to offer ZuH a few crates of exploding mangoes a decade or so earlier – perhaps Pakistan and the rest of the world might have been a little different.
So when we all sit in our darkened homes across the country for up to 20 hours a day, we should really thank our ‘great’ generals and mostly uncle ZuH for filling our lives with darkness.
@azface
you are an idiot. Stop the f**king blame game!
And it seems like you are saying that:
crazy nutjob terrorist = load shedding
and some how Zia is to blame for the lack of foresight and planning or the current govt.
Zia did what he could best i.e. protect Pakistan before being overtaken by Russia and Indian on both the sides. Have some brains and balls to admit that and some intelligence to see through the bullsh*t. Had Zia not been killed he would have no doubt made Pakistan stronger. His absence brought in all opportunists who f**ked up all his efforts and long term plan.
Just like now….
Pakistan is doing so remarkably well with democratic rule. We ousted Musharraf, the lawyers movement was successful.. everybody now has justice and peace and food etc.
Again..you were bullshitted into believing that Musharraf was bad and the lawyers will bring true democracy and justice to Pakistan. But now you have a govt. who doesn’t give a shit.
Countries succeed because they have foresight and long term planning, which incidentally Musharraf had. All others are there just to warm the seats and make money before the next election or war!
I remember when it wasn’t so bad during Musharraf’s time. Wish he was able to complete Kalabagh Dam, we wouldn’t be in such a mess.
Now why don’t you go back and wait for the electricity to turn back on before your next comment.
Actually, Mr Shahid, the point is simple and seems to have escaped you in your rush to be angry and shut out any point of view other than your own. The point is that our leaders should have invested in education. It seems to be quite a flaw in the ‘long term plans’ of both military dictators that you support that none of them invested in education. The author of the post is not supporting democratic rulers rather is blaming them equally. Nevertheless had someone, anyone invested in education we might have had better and more qualified people running all departments of our country instead of this lot. The answer is not to wish that someone through the use of force pushes down a dam (or any other thing) which is good for us down our throats. The answer is to equip is with tools for better decision making so we can better judge for ourselves what is good for us. The point is again simple, our leaders throughout have let us down by neglecting the education of our people. You are welcome to disagree, but only in a respectful, courteous and educated manner. It is only through exchanging our differing views in that manner will we be able to convince each other and forge a better understanding of each other. My aim, as a fellow Pakistani is never to put you down but rather to forge greater understanding so we can all move forward and make this country better together
@Sameer
I agree with you on some points. I would however respectfully disagree on your view of investing in education. Please allow me to elucidate.
From what I know (both personally and through colleagues in Pakistan and overseas) this nation has benefited greatly through Musharraf’s educational initiatives and specially the scholarships provided through HEC.
Its not hard to find faculty of prestigious international universities and institutions praising this initiative and the support it received from the Govt. of Pakistan. In fact, some have even said that such a revolutionary project has never taken place in any country they know and were surprised that Pakistan was the first to do this on a mass scale and further more how successful it was/is. This has helped raise the bar of scientific research and the quality of education in Pakistan from what I know. Granted only a minor population (out of 140 million) can afford that level of education..but like you I agree that this is something that must be worked on.
So to your statement : “The point is again simple, our leaders throughout have let us down by neglecting the education of our people.” , here I would disagree, but saying that I understand what you imply here.
Secondly, I still do not see how your point of educating our future generations in defence of azface ties into what he said here : “sometimes wish somebody had the foresight and guts to offer ZuH a few crates of exploding mangoes a decade or so earlier”.
Isn’t this just blind hatred..
From his post, it seemed that azface was alluding to the jingoistic ‘blow them up’ extremist/radicalized youths, surprisingly many of whom are educated.
[…] blogger Azface at Lahore Metblogs wonders what it will take for the common Pakistanis to rise up against the establishment: “It seems […]
From what I know (both personally and through colleagues in Pakistan and overseas) this nation has benefited greatly through Musharraf’s educational initiatives and specially the scholarships provided through HEC.
It wasn’t his doing. Not directly, at least. It was almost entirely paid for by the US due to Musharaff’s cooperation in fighting the war on terror.
In fact, much of that money that paid for that education never left the US. It went straight to the universities the students went to.
But yes, if you want to say that it was his decision to jump right into playing the war on terror game that enabled this, I won’t disagree.
If you’re going to claim that the education these people received is more beneficial to Pakistan than the calamities due to having to deal with the terrorists, I’ll expect actual metrics on how you measure that. I for one, do not see a clear win for Pakistan because of all this. Of course, we won’t really know for a decade or so.
In fact, some have even said that such a revolutionary project has never taken place in any country they know and were surprised that Pakistan was the first to do this on a mass scale and further more how successful it was/is.
And those “some” are pretty ignorant. A number of countries have done this. Turkey, for one. All except one or two Turkish students I met in the US (and there are many) were on government scholarships. Other countries do this a lot as well (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia).
As for comparisons to India, yes, they managed things a lot better. But don’t be blind. They have a heavy handed and quite unjust way of dealing with their terrorists. 700,000 troops just to keep Kashmir peaceful. The way they treat suspected Naxalites is also nothing to emulate.
Pakistan can’t follow their path in dealing with the terrorists, simply because in India, the Kashmiris and the Naxalites don’t have a lot of sympathy or support. Whereas in Pakistan, using such tactics against the Taliban or those who claim to be will backfire tremendously.
Oops! Messed up the formatting in my last post. Hope you can figure out which parts were said by me.
From what I know (both personally and through colleagues in Pakistan and overseas) this nation has benefited greatly through Musharraf’s educational initiatives and specially the scholarships provided through HEC.
It wasn’t his doing. Not directly, at least. It was almost entirely paid for by the US due to Musharaff’s cooperation in fighting the war on terror.
In fact, much of that money that paid for that education never left the US. It went straight to the universities the students went to.
But yes, if you want to say that it was his decision to jump right into playing the war on terror game that enabled this, I won’t disagree.
If you’re going to claim that the education these people received is more beneficial to Pakistan than the calamities due to having to deal with the terrorists, I’ll expect actual metrics on how you measure that. I for one, do not see a clear win for Pakistan because of all this. Of course, we won’t really know for a decade or so.
In fact, some have even said that such a revolutionary project has never taken place in any country they know and were surprised that Pakistan was the first to do this on a mass scale and further more how successful it was/is.
And those “some” are pretty ignorant. A number of countries have done this. Turkey, for one. All except one or two Turkish students I met in the US (and there are many) were on government scholarships. Other countries do this a lot as well (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia).
As for comparisons to India, yes, they managed things a lot better. But don’t be blind. They have a heavy handed and quite unjust way of dealing with their terrorists. 700,000 troops just to keep Kashmir peaceful. The way they treat suspected Naxalites is also nothing to emulate.
Pakistan can’t follow their path in dealing with the terrorists, simply because in India, the Kashmiris and the Naxalites don’t have a lot of sympathy or support. Whereas in Pakistan, using such tactics against the Taliban or those who claim to be will backfire tremendously.