@ Niaz - I was born in '90; I didn't see the Zia era, the Bhutto era, the Ayub era...heck I was even too little during Benazir & Nawaz's two stints. '71 or '65 or even Kargil weren't my mess ! The hell have the people of your generation & the generation after that been upto to have stood & done nothing whilst Pakistan went from 'heaven' as you call it, to the 'hell' its becoming ? Where were my parents, my grandparents ? Where were their siblings & colleagues ? Where the heck were you guys ? How is it that those that won us Pakistan against insurmountable odds in '47 & continued with the dream through much of its infancy bowed out with such anonymity & whats worst the succeeding generation was so bereft with the required attributes or skill-set *something* to take the nation forward that we've been suffering from its compounded effects ever since !
I like the way you put it. Bravo.
OK. I am not from Niaz Gen, and I am too old to be your gen.
So call me the Gen B.
Gen A. Niaz
Gen C. You my dear jr. think tank
The question you ask from Gen A. should really be directed to both Gen A and Gen B of Pak.
OK, you have read my posts, so you know I go off into deep end. So I'll spare you from that "agony".
The simple answer to where Pakistan is and why it is?
"We stopped working" for our money. That's all.
See the generation that was around 1940s was in fact trained and raised during British raj. You can call the Raj whatever you want to. But they did instill the concept of duty, and discipline, and above all pant shirt (or pant suit if the weather allowed it).
So in the 40s and 50s and 60s, Pakistani urban elite of Lahore and Karachi wore pant shirt pant suits, and did their duty. Teachers taught, laborers labored, factory owners built factories, and bankers banked and protected money of their account holders.
This was all due to the concepts of duty, discipline, and honor instilled in us by our traditions and British rule.
While the pant suits worked to build the nation, Mullahs did what they do now. they wore shalwar kameez, issued fatwas and created anarchy. But the country moved on. our pant suites worked for Britishers first, then for Americans. FYI Our pant suit wearing bankers set up banks all the way to South America. We worked hard, we earned money for an honest day of work.
Then came my generation. The Gen. B. 70s and 80s was tumultuous time, but then which time is not tumultuous. you tell me.
We didn't realize this. Under the incorrect understanding of Iqbal and Faiz, we let go of pant suit, wore Mullah Shalwar. And guess what? our sense of duty was gone, Teachers no longer tought, they indoctrinated, laborers stopped laboring, factory owners got kicked out of their factories, and government took over banks and took money out of them to distribute among PPP commerades as if the money belong to the mai baap of the party and not the account holders.
Suddenly Islam was in vogue, and everyone wore Islamic dress. Suddenly there was no difference bettween Mullah the anarchist, and the city dwelling duty officer. They all were the same. Everyone in one line. Aik he suff may kharay ho ga-ay Mahmood and the one f'd by Mahmood. Everyone said Allaho Akbar. No one had sense of duty. You do what your uniform does. Pant suits meant work in modern office, shalwar meant sleep on dirt and in dark hujra.
And guess what? the country went to the dog $hit. We all now sleep in darkened hujras, we all shout load shedding hai hai. But we refuse to realize that shalwar kameez is in our head, and until we get rid of it, we will not see the light.
So my dear jr. think tank from Gen C, if you want to change Pakistan, then do not do what Gen B did. Find Gen B and kill them including me.
And then faithfully copy the Gen. A. Wear pant suit, burn down the shalwar kameez (or wear only as night suit) and resurrect sense of duty and work ethic as it was prevalent in Gen A as taught by Goras and then Americans.
And once you put on the pinstriped suit, do not allow Shalwar Kameez Mullahs in your offices and your factories and your banks. Why because they belong to the mosques only. keep your office and your factory religion-$hit free and Communist-$hit free, but filled with sense of duty, sense of honor, and sense of commitment.
And soon you will see Pakistan will be for you the Gen C and D, what it used to be for Gen. A. the Niaz generation.
There is hope afterall. Don't you think?
peace to you. peace to all.