Huff Post: Some moons ago, during perhaps the best of times, I fell in love with a country called Pakistan — and not only because I was born there. From biking on its streets under the shade of the mulberry trees to running out in the welcomed monsoon rain, from eating in its dhabbas (the roadside restaurants) with your legs crossed on the charpai, to sitting at a roof top restaurant looking at the bright lights of the city in the deep nights, from its dusty roads to pristine gardens, its mud houses to palatial mansions, its colors, its smells — quite simply, I loved it all. But love, after a certain few teen heady years, ceases to be blind and — I can see her now, my country — with its current mistakes and mayhem. Is it, now, the worst of times? Perhaps, not yet.
Pakistan has unfortunately seen mostly self-serving rulers who had eyes only for their own benefits. One does not have to go back too far in Pakistan’s short history to see the downward spiral — from the autocracy and corruption to the extremism and fanaticism; the state meddling in personal liberties and declaring and defining who can be a Muslim; the rapid expansion and promotion of madrassas; the promulgation of the blasphemy laws; the quiet, and at times blatant, support of extremist groups and ideas, all by various governments for their personal and political gains. But Pakistan has always been more than its government — it has always been the people. It is the people of all sects who migrated there in 1947 in one of the world’s largest mass migration. It is the minorities who stayed there. It is because of them, because of their sweat and tears that a country was made, progressed and at one time was considered to be the one of Asian Tigers because of its economic development.
The best in Pakistan is brought on by the people — just as the worst. Even though each Pakistani government, which either ignored or overtly promoted and supported the extremist elements seeping in the society, enjoyed Western support (not to mention millions of dollars they received) and even though Pakistan has been used and abused by other governments, ultimately, it is the citizens themselves who are responsible for enabling or disabling any country. It astounds me whenever I see these people who I cannot relate to — the ones with the death of innocent people on their hands or the ones who can watch quietly as spectators while a woman is stoned. Like any great love affair, the disappointment is great when the object of your affection fails to live up to its image.
It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…
But then Pakistan, is a tale of two countries. It is the tale of a country where people can sit outside in the shivering cold with dead bodies of their loved ones, refusing to bury them till they get justice for the innocent lives. It is a county where people can be killed, their houses burned, their places looted, their graves dug up; it makes no difference whether they are doctors or brick-kiln workers, their fault is that they belong to a minority sect. It is a country where thousands will protest Israel’s injustices against Palestinians but will remain quiet about the killings of Shias, Ahmadis or Christians. It is a country where hundreds will take on social media to complain about the West and its unjust policies, while failing to notice the discrimination taking place around them and the justice that is never provided.