ET: The writer is the recipient of the James A Wechsler Award for International Reporting and a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism
Pakistan, the enigmatic, brash, much misunderstood country with a heart of gold, lost its protracted battle with the cancerous spread of a particularly crippling strain of extremism at the fateful age of 66 yesterday. While the cancer spread slowly and strategically, the country refused to get serious about treating an outbreak of extremism that struck at the very core of its muscular identity. Pakistan is now survived by a nation of 180 million people, who can no longer outdo one another as armchair rebels by whining against a ‘system’ that no longer exists.
Pakistan accomplished a lot in its brief but eventful existence. The birth of Pakistan was nothing short of a political, historical and geographical miracle, which led the country to believe that it was special by virtue of its existence. Pakistan was a country brimming with possibilities and potential, especially during its late teens and early twenties when its green revolution was the envy of the developing world and the country was called out as a role model for economic and industrial development. Somewhere along the way, Pakistan grew frustrated at always being able to visualise but never realise its full potential and eventually lost the plot. A mid-life crisis, sparked by the inability to define the role religion should play in society, led to an unstoppable lurch towards a more polarised polity.
Categories: Asia