Reading the thread, the thing that came to mind was that we need an immediate "branding" strategy for what we want Pakistan to be and what image we want to project. We as Pakistanis have the "Analysis" Kera in our bones, this "kera/worm" forces us to spend countless hours of energy researching and rebuking history, and when it comes to history there is a famous saying my grandfather would always mention:
"We are all omnibuses in which our ancestors ride, and every now and then one of them sticks his head out and embarrasses us." - Oliver Wendell Holmes.
I have had been blessed by god in the sense that I have had the good fortune of travelling the world and experiencing how successful nations have managed to compete in an ever competitive market, but not only that, these nations some with the odds stacked against them, lack of human capital, capital flight, lack of investment, poverty, illiteracy etc... Have managed to develop a foothold on the global economic stage.
Whilst politics, analysis and debate are wondrous things, I always found it intriguing that the CSS exam preparation book required you to write up an essay of no less than 1500 words on "international relations", when one could easily write a dissertation on "What's wrong with Pakistan and how can civil servants fix it".
Looking back at our rich history, we were blessed with everything a fledgling nation needed, everything except true leadership which was denied to us after the passing of our beloved founding father M.A. Jinnah, looking back I can see why my grandfather would mention, Pakistan was more than just an "Islamic Nation", it was hope for the hopeless, shelter for the homeless and the Chand Tara that would be our shining light in an uncertain future.
This documentary produced in the early 50's on Pakistan conveys that very same message, one of hope, prosperity and growth.
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Promise of Pakistan - Very Old and Rare Documentary on Pakistan" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><a href="
" target="_blank">Promise of Pakistan - Very Old and Rare...</a> <i>by <a href="
AmeenAkbar - Dailymotion" target="_blank">AmeenAkbar</a></i>
But somewhere along the quest for progress, we let ourselves be shut in my religious bigots and goose-stepped towards an era of xenophobia, bigotry and narrow-mindedness. Instead of following through on the seed of hope and prosperity our ancestors planted, we tilled the land with different motives, blinded by hate and fear and fertilizing our beloved soil with the blood of innocents.
Here is an excerpt taken from Hector Bilotho's "Jinnah Creator of Pakistan":
"I asked him to close his eyes and to see, once more, the coloured glass marbles in the dust. Nanji Jafar closed his eyes and deeper into his memory: then he told his only anecdote of Jinnah’s boyhood.
One morning, when Nanji Jafar was playing in the street, Jinnah, then aged about fourteen, came up to him and said, “Don’t play marbles in the dust; it spoils your clothes and dirties your hands. We must stand up and play cricket.”
The boys in Newnham Road were obedient: they gave up playing marbles and allowed Jinnah to lead them from the dusty street to a bright field where he brought his bat and stumps for them to use. When he sailed for England at the age of sixteen, he gave Nanji Jafar his bat and said,
“You will go on teaching the boys to play cricket while I am away.”
All Jinnah’s story is in the boyhood dictum –
“Stand up from the dust so that your clothes are unspoiled and your hands clean for the tasks that fall to them…."
Our ancestors loved Pakistan for what it cost them, they had real value for what this soil is worth, the generations that came after just lost the way, blinded by greed and corruption, sullying their hands with blood, soiling their hearts with greed and coveting that which they cannot have.
Our neighbour on the other hand has taken that seed and despite her too having the same ills as us has progressed from once a developing agricultural nation into an economic juggernaut, and that growth came from hard work and sweat from the from brows of men and women, but also from strong leadership.
I would urge people to read "The Elusive Quest for growth" by William Easterly. It is an eye opener. Coming back to my opening statement, we as Pakistanis need to work towards branding the "Image" and "Identity" of Pakistan as we want the world to see it. For the future of our children and their children after them.
Al-Jazeera "Empire" covered this subject perfectly:
McAmerica: The Success Secrets of Brand USA - Empire - Al Jazeera English
In closing, a nation without a leader is like a ship without a compass in stormy seas.