Pakistan is anything but a failed state we were doing mighty fine in the early '00s & we'd be doing fine once this Government is booted out ! Do not mistake the corruption, nepotism, abysmal governance & outright stupidity of the present executive as being an extrapolation of some structural or at the ideological malaise of the Pakistani State or the Society ! And I say that not out of some misplaced sense of patriotism but as someone who has tried to understand where we went wrong so that my generation & the generations to come can rectify that !
You are right that Pakistan & Pakistanis, like a myriad other Nations & Nationalities out there, have this habit of living in the past at the expense of the present but thats where the similarity ends for those Nations, despite their delusions, still have a seemingly functional State apparatus & don't find themselves in the security paradigm that we do.
Our failure lies in not appraising the situation fully, not being able to sell our narrative both at home & abroad & not developing our Institutions so that they can function properly even if the Government changes hands. The last one is present in almost every 3rd world country including our neighbors but in our case their dysfunctionality has been exponentially perpetuated by the mess we find ourselves in; some of which is our own creation whereas the rest is due to how events unfolded in the neighborhood as a normal course of history !
No matter we're going to bounce back as soon as the current government is shown the door in the coming few months ! And just to grasp the gravity of their presence - We've managed to rake up more debt in the past 5 years than our past 60 combined & yet without a mega project of note to show for it ! We've got militant wings of Political Parties including that of this party & those who are in alliance with it operating with near impunity in Pakistan's Financial Hub ! We've got more development projects by the Army going on in places like the Tribal Areas, Baluchistan & up North in Swat than probably all Government Projects throughout the country combined ! The Government has colluded with & defaulted on payments to dozens of Rental Power Plants in the country, haven't developed Samar Mubarkmands $100m coal gasification project in Thar & haven't event payed what they, as Institutions, owed to WAPDA & PEPCO amongst others for the electricity they used.
So cut us some slack for such extenuating circumstances shouldn't be taken as indicative of the inherent failure of everything from Pakistan's raison detre of existence to potential viability of continued existence !
P.S I was referring to narratives & that involves walking the walk not just embellished romanticism of the past !
P.P.S I get along fine with Indians as well its the arrogance & passionate stupidity by anyone (Indian, Pakistani...anyone) that sometimes unhinges me ! On my part I consider many Indians on PDF my friends !
if i take all of your posts and put them together in an essay, I will have an A+. I might resort to this if ever desperate!