Returning to Pakistan

[Al-zakir]

Good for you man. I wish you all the success.

 

[happycanuck]

As some of you might remember some time ago i posted a thread asking for opinion on whether i should stay in UAE or return to Pakistan. Well recently i got a job offer from Pakistan and I took it without hesitation. Although the salary will be lot less then what I’ve been getting here and I had the option to search for a better job in UAE i have preferred to go back.
The purpose of posting this thread is that for years i have heard people say that once you get a taste of facilities abroad you would never want to go back to Pakistan. They criticize the justice system, the govt, the army and everything about Pakistan to justify their unwillingness to return.
I have made my decision with complete knowledge of the load shedding, corruption, safety issues and i have vowed that I will remember all the good things i have learned in UAE and will keep on practicing them in Pakistan. It will be my way of doing something for my country in return for what it has done for me.

I wish you nohting but the best wishes for your future course of life. You are right that for most of us there is always one or the other reason for not to return and I am in the same camp. It is not the comfort of the developed countries that keeps some of us from making ultimate decision but the hint of bribery drives me up the wall. I have never bribed any one anywhere in the world to get the work done which is rightfully my right as a citizen of the country.

It is a positive news that you have learned some of the positive things during your stay in UAE and as you have promised to keep practising the same. I hope you will share the same with your fellow country men and women which is what Pakistan can make best use of.

I was wondering if you have the list of positive ethical things you have learned and how would you use the same to achieve your goals in life to help Pakistan as a nation to get out of the rut that it is in. It is not a criticism in a negative way but the reality in todays world.

If you would allow me to suggest one thing that you can practise that would be to stand up for your rights and put the interest of your nation aboveall.

Keep us updated about your day to day experiences so that we can learn a thing or two. Wishing you all the best once again in your life.

Best regards.

 

[genmirajborgza786]

Al-Baik jaisi Allah ki neimak sirf aapki hai, humeray liye nahi.

pehle yeh bata ke apne tazaj al-fakeh ko kaise bhula

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/41816_2601226897_2911_n.jpg

one of all time fav is mutabbak

 

[F86 Saber]

Thanks a lot for the nice wishes everyone and for the record.... I am a pakka Lahori and I Hate Mandi and would prefer Student Biryani over it any day .

What is your field of work and expertise, if I may ask, since it would have a bearing on the transportability of your knowledge?

I have an MBA degree and experience in Marketing and Planning in Pakistan and in UAE and i am returning to join one of the largest Textile Groups in Pakistan as Assistant Manager Marketing. So no issues of transferability of knowledge there.

I wish you nohting but the best wishes for your future course of life. You are right that for most of us there is always one or the other reason for not to return and I am in the same camp. It is not the comfort of the developed countries that keeps some of us from making ultimate decision but the hint of bribery drives me up the wall. I have never bribed any one anywhere in the world to get the work done which is rightfully my right as a citizen of the country.

It is a positive news that you have learned some of the positive things during your stay in UAE and as you have promised to keep practising the same. I hope you will share the same with your fellow country men and women which is what Pakistan can make best use of.

I was wondering if you have the list of positive ethical things you have learned and how would you use the same to achieve your goals in life to help Pakistan as a nation to get out of the rut that it is in. It is not a criticism in a negative way but the reality in todays world.

If you would allow me to suggest one thing that you can practise that would be to stand up for your rights and put the interest of your nation aboveall.

Keep us updated about your day to day experiences so that we can learn a thing or two. Wishing you all the best once again in your life.

Best regards.

I don't know what led you to believe that bribery is the only way to get something done in Pakistan and there is no bribery anywhere else. If you have worked as a decision maker you'll know by experience that bribe is offered from the very basic level to the top most level even if it is the name of "Gifts", "Promotions", "TC" (if you know what i mean), "Flirting"(Especially from the opposite sex) or other fringe benefits. I've had firsthand experience of it and it works the same way all over the world. So if that is the only excuse you have for not wanting to come to Pakistan please think again.
There are very small things that can make big differences if people start following them on individual level like not breaking traffic rules while driving and not throwing away trash, rules we mandatorily follow while outside Pakistan in fear of fines and stop following the moment we land in Pakistan which is quite strange.

 

[forcetrip]

We all will return back to our homeland one day. Pak Sarzameen is where we came from and where our heart is and where we should return back.

Yes, take your time. Things are right on track for it to stay nice and cozy for the day everyone decides that.

 

[forcetrip]

Patriotism is for the rich


It was noon on a particularly lazy Sunday. I could not go out as the law and order situation in the city was bad – as usual. I decided to watch television to get my mind off the gloomy state I was in: tired of the situation in the city, where there is a strike everyday because some political figure decides to be inappropriate and crude on national tv.

I flipped through news channels because I had heard enough about cars being burnt and people being shot. In hindsight I realise I wanted some kind of escapism. So I landed onto a channel that claims to be the voice of the ‘poor’ and covers real life stories.

I watched as a reporter unfolded the tale of Ali Hashmi – a boy who was tortured severely and eventually murdered in police custody for a crime he did not commit. Images of his body with holes in his feet, no nails on his fingers and gruesome injuries were constantly being played repeatedly for effect. I shuddered and turned the television off.

So much for escaping the harsh reality of Pakistan.

I sat and thought to myself for a long time. I had always been one of those people that claimed to be very ‘patriotic’, that judged people who would move to countries like America, Canada, Australia and blame it on the ‘weaknesses’ of our country.

‘What do they know about loyalty?’ I would think to myself.

I also found myself realising that I judged the common man of Pakistan who was protesting on the street because of no electricity, no sugar, no water.

‘Most third world countries need time to develop …there is no reason to behave like this’ I would always say sitting in my air conditioned room.

But then as images of Ali Hashmi’s mutilated dead body and the expression of people whose cars were burnt in the recent strikes, tear stricken faces of people who couldn’t provided basic necessities of life to their children, popped in my mind I suddenly felt my so called ‘patriotism’ fade away.

Perhaps I never was really patriotic in the true sense of the word.

It is easy for the elite to sit in air conditioned drawing rooms and offer theories about how this nation has so much potential. So called patriotism is a luxury only the bourgeoisie can afford. It is a concept that elite Pakistanis or Pakistani settled abroad (often founders of ‘NGOs’ for Pakistan whose work comprises of ghazal evenings and Eid dinners) can afford. Reminds me of a scene from Act 2 of Pygmalion where Pickering asks Mr Dolittle:

“Have you no morals, man?”

He replies:

‘Can’t afford them, governor. Neither could you if you were as poor as me.”

How can one expect the common man of Pakistan who will either die of hunger or be shot on the road because some political party wants to showcase their strength to feel patriotism? Such immense patriotism that it is expected to go above and beyond his basic feelings of hunger? Hurt? Pain? Fear? And instability?

Nations were built to provide citizens security, stability and most importantly to give them a right to life, the most basic right that every individual deserves, a right that is the first right afforded to citizens of a nation under the Human Rights Act.

How can one expect a man who does not know if he will be alive tomorrow to feel patriotism and ‘give’ to his nation?

This whole propaganda of ‘your nation may not have given you anything but what have you given your nation’ is a façade – a kind of escapism, a denial of our state’s failure. If a nation cannot give its citizens a basic sense of security in terms of life, it is impossible for its citizens to give anything to their nation including a sense of pride in being Pakistani.

Maybe I can ‘afford’ to be a patriotic Pakistani but the common man can’t. Can you really blame him?

Patriotism is for the rich – The Express Tribune Blog

 

[F86 Saber]

Patriotism is for the rich


It was noon on a particularly lazy Sunday. I could not go out as the law and order situation in the city was bad – as usual. I decided to watch television to get my mind off the gloomy state I was in: tired of the situation in the city, where there is a strike everyday because some political figure decides to be inappropriate and crude on national tv.

I flipped through news channels because I had heard enough about cars being burnt and people being shot. In hindsight I realise I wanted some kind of escapism. So I landed onto a channel that claims to be the voice of the ‘poor’ and covers real life stories.

I watched as a reporter unfolded the tale of Ali Hashmi – a boy who was tortured severely and eventually murdered in police custody for a crime he did not commit. Images of his body with holes in his feet, no nails on his fingers and gruesome injuries were constantly being played repeatedly for effect. I shuddered and turned the television off.

So much for escaping the harsh reality of Pakistan.

I sat and thought to myself for a long time. I had always been one of those people that claimed to be very ‘patriotic’, that judged people who would move to countries like America, Canada, Australia and blame it on the ‘weaknesses’ of our country.

‘What do they know about loyalty?’ I would think to myself.

I also found myself realising that I judged the common man of Pakistan who was protesting on the street because of no electricity, no sugar, no water.

‘Most third world countries need time to develop …there is no reason to behave like this’ I would always say sitting in my air conditioned room.

But then as images of Ali Hashmi’s mutilated dead body and the expression of people whose cars were burnt in the recent strikes, tear stricken faces of people who couldn’t provided basic necessities of life to their children, popped in my mind I suddenly felt my so called ‘patriotism’ fade away.

Perhaps I never was really patriotic in the true sense of the word.

It is easy for the elite to sit in air conditioned drawing rooms and offer theories about how this nation has so much potential. So called patriotism is a luxury only the bourgeoisie can afford. It is a concept that elite Pakistanis or Pakistani settled abroad (often founders of ‘NGOs’ for Pakistan whose work comprises of ghazal evenings and Eid dinners) can afford. Reminds me of a scene from Act 2 of Pygmalion where Pickering asks Mr Dolittle:

“Have you no morals, man?”

He replies:

‘Can’t afford them, governor. Neither could you if you were as poor as me.”

How can one expect the common man of Pakistan who will either die of hunger or be shot on the road because some political party wants to showcase their strength to feel patriotism? Such immense patriotism that it is expected to go above and beyond his basic feelings of hunger? Hurt? Pain? Fear? And instability?

Nations were built to provide citizens security, stability and most importantly to give them a right to life, the most basic right that every individual deserves, a right that is the first right afforded to citizens of a nation under the Human Rights Act.

How can one expect a man who does not know if he will be alive tomorrow to feel patriotism and ‘give’ to his nation?

This whole propaganda of ‘your nation may not have given you anything but what have you given your nation’ is a façade – a kind of escapism, a denial of our state’s failure. If a nation cannot give its citizens a basic sense of security in terms of life, it is impossible for its citizens to give anything to their nation including a sense of pride in being Pakistani.

Maybe I can ‘afford’ to be a patriotic Pakistani but the common man can’t. Can you really blame him?

Patriotism is for the rich – The Express Tribune Blog

What a bunch of bull..... how can he depict the views of the "Common Man" when he himself is saying he is not one. Also the "Common Man" is much more patriotic then the rich because he knows he has to live and die in Pakistan and cannot afford the luxury of fleeting to another country in case the going gets tough. While on the other hand, the current situation in Pakistan is one brought on to the "Common Man" by none other than himself because the political parties do not choose to rule, the "Common Man" elects them to rule by choosing to vote for them or not voting against them.
I can go on and on but i am sure the writer of this article himself doesn't believe what he is saying.

 

[forcetrip]

I am glad we can both blame the same common person for what is happening in the country. But now what?? The common man is in charge of your roads not being built, so you should buy a 4X4. Mismanagement of you power situation, so you should buy a generator. No law and order, so you should live within a gated community. Who will tell the common man that he is killing himself while making the rich at the most uncomfortable? Well its a little too early to jump the gun. Lets just welcome you back.

 

[happycanuck]

Thanks a lot for the nice wishes everyone and for the record.... I am a pakka Lahori and I Hate Mandi and would prefer Student Biryani over it any day .



I have an MBA degree and experience in Marketing and Planning in Pakistan and in UAE and i am returning to join one of the largest Textile Groups in Pakistan as Assistant Manager Marketing. So no issues of transferability of knowledge there.



If you have worked as a decision maker you'll know by experience that bribe is offered from the very basic level to the top most level even if it is the name of "Gifts", "Promotions", "TC" (if you know what i mean), "Flirting"(Especially from the opposite sex) or other fringe benefits. I've had firsthand experience of it and it works the same way all over the world. So if that is the only excuse you have for not wanting to come to Pakistan please think again.
There are very small things that can make big differences if people start following them on individual level like not breaking traffic rules while driving and not throwing away trash, rules we mandatorily follow while outside Pakistan in fear of fines and stop following the moment we land in Pakistan which is quite strange.

I don't know what led you to believe that bribery is the only way to get something done in Pakistan and there is no bribery anywhere else.

Listening to the BBC urdu broadcast is one of the source of information and our Pakistani friends is the second source for me. I did not say there is no bribery elsewhere in the world otherwise UNO list of most corrupt countries would not run into over two hundred of them.

One also has take into account to what degree it is. This is a fair question I believe.

By the way I just want you to know I am of Indian origin by birth.
All I can do is speak for myself no matter what happens I will always set the right example for others to follow if they choose to.

As far as the civic duties are concerned we should follow them for the betterment of society in general. Throwing the litter and breaking the traffic rules are a problem in the developed part of the world as well. I do not know the solution.

In the end I am quiet sure you will follow your own set of principals and thus help your nation to become a better place to live and visit. I wish you and your country all the best in economic ,education and social development. Sorry for the delayed response.