Raj gifted us Pakistan. No Raj. No Pakistan. So why should there be hard feelings?
The Raj gave us what the Raj gave us. My issue is the slave mentality which is so characteristic of many in Pakistan. It shows in our national character by our inability to achieve anything big at a national level. For good education, we rely on the British O/A levels system. For farming, we rely on the Chinese to come show us the latest scientific techniques. For infrastructure and development, we need the Chinese to show the bold leadership in Gawadar. By ourselves, we couldn't do anything about Baluchistan for 70 years.
Let's talk about our major exports. In textiles, the machinery we use comes from outside. In the past 70 years, we haven't created anything innovative in terms of textile design. It would have been nice if an innovative material had been invented. Or a new type of stitch pattern. Maybe a new design. But nothing.
We are happy to remain static, and keep doing the same thing. We are proud of our Mangoes. It doesn't take much to grow mango trees. Have we tried anything innovative? Find the best breeds of mangoes around the world and create a super breed of mangoes? No. Consider the innovation in chillies in the west. People cross-breeded chillies with the aim of creating the hottest chilli in the world. You get things like ghost pepper, Trinidad scorpion etc. But we are happy to be lazy and don't try to push the boundaries.
This ties in with quality. We don't recognize that in the world out there people are trying to set themselves apart. Nations are creating a brand for themselves through quality and innovation. We are so used to corruption, at worst our exports suffer from a lack of quality. And at best, we keep maintaining the status quo.
This requires us to reset our very national character. What we are, who we are, what we stand for. And I believe the roots of this go back to colonialism where our rulers wanted us to be subservient slaves that will be easy to handle. We need to change this national character through a grassroots level campaign of education.