Over the top
Over the top
Masood Hasan
To see old people disillusioned is bad enough, but when the young of the country are despondent and lost, it is worrying. No amount of platitudes help. Phrases drummed by one leader after another that the youth of the country will lead us to a new chapter in our glorious existence, have become much like a badly worn out and scratchy record. There is no music here.
A few weeks back, I saw the future pride of Pakistan in full display. As I sat getting my car serviced theres still a pleasure in getting that done personally at one of Lahores more well-laid-out service stations, I noticed a large and constantly growing number of rowdy young men, all in bedraggled uniforms, loafing about the small store adjoining the station. There were three increasingly anxious security guards trying to herd them out of the area, but the students were hostile, abusive and aggressive.
A large number were smoking right next to the pumps and casually tossing about burning cigarette *****. Others were performing stunts on beat-up motorbikes, harassing customers and misbehaving even more atrociously seeing women, young or old. They were at it for well over an hour and the management of the station said this was a regular feature and they were too frightened to take them on. They said they would show up to pounce on girls from another college nearby, and ogle and leer at them.
Luckily I happened to know the head of this particular institution and called him. Fairly soon afterwards, the college authorities descended and broke up the crowd. In less than ten minutes they were back, even rowdier than before, and so it went on. If this was a close-up of our future, the young men who will lead us to the Promised Land, then heaven help us. This bunch is going nowhere, and neither are we.
Of course the young are spirited and animated, but when this becomes hostile and abusive behaviour, you cannot defend it on any grounds. What was most obvious was the complete lack of discipline, the contempt for any rules of acceptable social behaviour. This trait, as we all know too well, now defines us. We have all pondered over the magical transition of unruly Pakistanis to obedient lambs as soon as they arrive abroad, and their marvellous descent into anarchy as soon as they board flights back home. We also know that there is no mystery here. Pakis know that if they misbehave in Dubai or London, they will be hauled by the scruff of their collars and thrown into the slammer. They know the law is not an *** and that there is, by and large, accountability. Here, it is open season. The law can be broken and violated with impunity and no one will be held to task. If anything, the violators rise even higher. This lesson the young have quickly picked up from their elders.
A galloping population of 170 million till last night, that is now looms over our land like a descending swarm of locust. With 57 per cent barely able to read and write and half the population hovering around the age of 15-20, this is not even a doomsday scenario. It is not even a chilling factor. It is just plain frightening. And yet, education, which is one possible solution, remains not even on the backburner. Half-cooked, it fell off years ago.
Billions are squandered on toys for the boys in khaki to show off their toys and their comings and goings, but mention the word education or vocational training and sacred defence of the motherland pops up. This is nothing but self-serving interest. Like in most things, we wait for catastrophes to hit us. When they do, we wail like babes and flash our begging bowls for more alms. Its a pantomime and it pushes us back each and every day.
Among the young who hail from more privileged backgrounds the mommy-daddy set and their satellites the disillusionment is even starker. They dont face the life-and-death struggle that the majority of the young face that lot is neither educated, and nor are there any jobs any more but it is sad to see young people who have the potential to make something of this country squandering away their lives, hoping to get away as far as possible from Pakistan. Some want to stay and make a difference but most see Pakistan as a leaky, creaky sinking ship.
You cannot help but feel for the young of Pakistan. We have given them nothing and only demonstrated to them that the worst your social values are, the more successful you will be. That talent or hard work or honesty are just words, and what really matters is who you know, how much is there to be made on the side, and how to grease the outstretched waiting palms. They know almost by instinct that uncles and aunts and friends of Abbu will make sure all is possible, from bogus degrees to ill-deserved jobs and perks. But whether rich or poor, there is desperation here.
For those who have the means, there are still no outlets. Unlike their peers in other more fortunate countries, our young men and women hang out, night after night, drinking far too much and smoking substances that eventually reduce your brain to a pulp. There is nowhere to go, so if you drive a Mehran or a BMW, chances are you will be at the same pathetic juice corner or tikka shop. The poorer sections do their hanging out accordingly. They cant pay for pomegranate juice, but sugarcane is not that expensive, and one can always have a glass and decamp. Slipping into a life of crime and easy pickings is but a step away. And the comforting knowledge that it is unlikely that you will ever be caught or made to pay, only adds incentive to the effort.
So whats new? What can be done? Are we waiting for the CJ to set this right as well? He cant, so banish the thought. The government? The democratic dispensation? No hope here either. A government that cannot enforce law and order is not a government. The police are, and have always been, on the rampage, beyond control, beyond jurisdiction, a wart on a disfigured face. The system on which the country runs is so termite-eaten that whatever you touch is rotten. Its a system where you keep one another happy and make swift killings, because tomorrow you may not be around. A national vision? Impossible. We are stuck in stereotyping our imaginary foes far too many and everything going wrong being the work of hidden hands or the diabolical Zionist, Indian, Western, anti-Islam forces.
A recasting of national priorities? Surely that is not possible. We only have personal priorities. A handful of idiots pay taxes. The rest dont, and it begins from the top. Everyone bends or breaks the rules. Everyone gets away too. Its taken us 35 months just to prepare a ruddy challan of Benazir Bhuttos assassination! And the PPP has been in power two years and more.
We are still in the holiday mode. We have successfully de-capacitated the pathetic reserves of livestock we have. We have celebrated Eid with blood and gore and mounds of meat, at a time when this country should have had the moral decency to forgo everything and help their wretched countrymen and -women find some succour. But instead, we have taken a week off to enact rituals that mean nothing: eat, loaf, loll and belch. Pakistan is fast asleep. Drugged, mentally finished. The irony is that despite all thats been done to it, it is a good country. It can still offer a great deal, but it has remained in the clutches of the vultures for all its sad existence. And the vultures are not going anywhere. Sadly, neither are we.
The writer is a Lahore-based columnist. Email: masoodhasan66@gmail.com
Over the top
Masood Hasan
To see old people disillusioned is bad enough, but when the young of the country are despondent and lost, it is worrying. No amount of platitudes help. Phrases drummed by one leader after another that the youth of the country will lead us to a new chapter in our glorious existence, have become much like a badly worn out and scratchy record. There is no music here.
A few weeks back, I saw the future pride of Pakistan in full display. As I sat getting my car serviced theres still a pleasure in getting that done personally at one of Lahores more well-laid-out service stations, I noticed a large and constantly growing number of rowdy young men, all in bedraggled uniforms, loafing about the small store adjoining the station. There were three increasingly anxious security guards trying to herd them out of the area, but the students were hostile, abusive and aggressive.
A large number were smoking right next to the pumps and casually tossing about burning cigarette *****. Others were performing stunts on beat-up motorbikes, harassing customers and misbehaving even more atrociously seeing women, young or old. They were at it for well over an hour and the management of the station said this was a regular feature and they were too frightened to take them on. They said they would show up to pounce on girls from another college nearby, and ogle and leer at them.
Luckily I happened to know the head of this particular institution and called him. Fairly soon afterwards, the college authorities descended and broke up the crowd. In less than ten minutes they were back, even rowdier than before, and so it went on. If this was a close-up of our future, the young men who will lead us to the Promised Land, then heaven help us. This bunch is going nowhere, and neither are we.
Of course the young are spirited and animated, but when this becomes hostile and abusive behaviour, you cannot defend it on any grounds. What was most obvious was the complete lack of discipline, the contempt for any rules of acceptable social behaviour. This trait, as we all know too well, now defines us. We have all pondered over the magical transition of unruly Pakistanis to obedient lambs as soon as they arrive abroad, and their marvellous descent into anarchy as soon as they board flights back home. We also know that there is no mystery here. Pakis know that if they misbehave in Dubai or London, they will be hauled by the scruff of their collars and thrown into the slammer. They know the law is not an *** and that there is, by and large, accountability. Here, it is open season. The law can be broken and violated with impunity and no one will be held to task. If anything, the violators rise even higher. This lesson the young have quickly picked up from their elders.
A galloping population of 170 million till last night, that is now looms over our land like a descending swarm of locust. With 57 per cent barely able to read and write and half the population hovering around the age of 15-20, this is not even a doomsday scenario. It is not even a chilling factor. It is just plain frightening. And yet, education, which is one possible solution, remains not even on the backburner. Half-cooked, it fell off years ago.
Billions are squandered on toys for the boys in khaki to show off their toys and their comings and goings, but mention the word education or vocational training and sacred defence of the motherland pops up. This is nothing but self-serving interest. Like in most things, we wait for catastrophes to hit us. When they do, we wail like babes and flash our begging bowls for more alms. Its a pantomime and it pushes us back each and every day.
Among the young who hail from more privileged backgrounds the mommy-daddy set and their satellites the disillusionment is even starker. They dont face the life-and-death struggle that the majority of the young face that lot is neither educated, and nor are there any jobs any more but it is sad to see young people who have the potential to make something of this country squandering away their lives, hoping to get away as far as possible from Pakistan. Some want to stay and make a difference but most see Pakistan as a leaky, creaky sinking ship.
You cannot help but feel for the young of Pakistan. We have given them nothing and only demonstrated to them that the worst your social values are, the more successful you will be. That talent or hard work or honesty are just words, and what really matters is who you know, how much is there to be made on the side, and how to grease the outstretched waiting palms. They know almost by instinct that uncles and aunts and friends of Abbu will make sure all is possible, from bogus degrees to ill-deserved jobs and perks. But whether rich or poor, there is desperation here.
For those who have the means, there are still no outlets. Unlike their peers in other more fortunate countries, our young men and women hang out, night after night, drinking far too much and smoking substances that eventually reduce your brain to a pulp. There is nowhere to go, so if you drive a Mehran or a BMW, chances are you will be at the same pathetic juice corner or tikka shop. The poorer sections do their hanging out accordingly. They cant pay for pomegranate juice, but sugarcane is not that expensive, and one can always have a glass and decamp. Slipping into a life of crime and easy pickings is but a step away. And the comforting knowledge that it is unlikely that you will ever be caught or made to pay, only adds incentive to the effort.
So whats new? What can be done? Are we waiting for the CJ to set this right as well? He cant, so banish the thought. The government? The democratic dispensation? No hope here either. A government that cannot enforce law and order is not a government. The police are, and have always been, on the rampage, beyond control, beyond jurisdiction, a wart on a disfigured face. The system on which the country runs is so termite-eaten that whatever you touch is rotten. Its a system where you keep one another happy and make swift killings, because tomorrow you may not be around. A national vision? Impossible. We are stuck in stereotyping our imaginary foes far too many and everything going wrong being the work of hidden hands or the diabolical Zionist, Indian, Western, anti-Islam forces.
A recasting of national priorities? Surely that is not possible. We only have personal priorities. A handful of idiots pay taxes. The rest dont, and it begins from the top. Everyone bends or breaks the rules. Everyone gets away too. Its taken us 35 months just to prepare a ruddy challan of Benazir Bhuttos assassination! And the PPP has been in power two years and more.
We are still in the holiday mode. We have successfully de-capacitated the pathetic reserves of livestock we have. We have celebrated Eid with blood and gore and mounds of meat, at a time when this country should have had the moral decency to forgo everything and help their wretched countrymen and -women find some succour. But instead, we have taken a week off to enact rituals that mean nothing: eat, loaf, loll and belch. Pakistan is fast asleep. Drugged, mentally finished. The irony is that despite all thats been done to it, it is a good country. It can still offer a great deal, but it has remained in the clutches of the vultures for all its sad existence. And the vultures are not going anywhere. Sadly, neither are we.
The writer is a Lahore-based columnist. Email: masoodhasan66@gmail.com
