My problem with columns like these is that they shift all the guilt on every Pakistani citizen yet offer absolutely no solution. It's akin to hitting yourself over the head for existing. What's the point in crying ''oh we Pakistanis are so hypocritical'' and so on?
''Contradictions and double-speak'' is just an emotive way of saying that we are divided in our opinions.
Such articles have become too popular, and at this point people write them daily for people to read them and agree with them - yet they offer no solution, no practical outlooks, and absolutely nothing except for demoralization.
Yes, Pakistani public opinion is divided. Yes, politicians are hypocrites. Yes, radicalisation is a problem. We hear this every day. What should we do, mass-suicide? None of these people sitting abroad and criticizing the Pakistani population ever offers any solutions. Every day someone writes an article like this on The Express Tribune or Dawn. This includes the obligatory rant about how hypocritical Pakistanis are about international affairs - even though said rants are usually full of exaggerations or flat-out lies.
We are right to be appalled at Israel mowing the lawn in Palestine, but lose little sleep over Assad’s Syrian genocide.
Not true. I've heard Pakistanis in Pakistan cry about how much zulm the Syrians are doing on their own people a lot.
But then, how would someone based in New Jersey know?
The issue is this: ours is a selective morality. We condemn radicalism — only when it hurts us. .
''We condemn radicalism only when it hurts us.'' What a load of nonsense. This line is extremely overused and extremely senseless. What is this supposed to even mean? Of course we'll be more vocal and emotional when radicalism hurts us. But that doesn't mean we don't condemn it when it hurts other people.We condemn it in general, but it becomes more relevant to us when it directly affects us. Human nature.
The Americans cried their eyes out for fourteen years when a few thousand of them were killed by radicalism but they were not as vocal when the radicals their own foreign policy spawned in Afghanistan destroyed that state, or when they destroyed the state of Iraq. That is not to say there wasn't widespread condemnation of the war, but it obviously wasn't as vehement as that of 9/11.
That is human nature. We are more upset when things directly affect us. To put all the blame on Pakistanis for that is frankly nothing more than stupid.
We want effective law enforcement — so long as it applies to others.
Another one of those senseless lines. We want effective law enforcement and we want it to be uniform and apply to the rich and power as much as they apply to the poor and weak. There is no Pakistani who says ''I want effective law enforcement but it shouldn't apply to me'', except for certain politicians who have been having verbal diarrhea over the actions of Law Enforcement Agencies recently. (Zardari and Altaf)
We begrudge politicians for corruption but will bribe our way around in service of our own ends — anything to bypass due process.
The reason normal people resort to bribery is because sometimes it is impossible to get things done without it. People resort to bribery because of the corruption in the system, not the other way around: the system is not corrupt because all Pakistanis are somehow born corrupt.
Politicians begrudge the citizenry for brain-drain while their kids comfortably study abroad.
I have never heard a politician begrudging the citizenry for brain drain.
Beating ourselves over the head has become a new trend nowadays. But it is nothing short of demoralizing and pointless. Yes, we have our flaws. Let's focus on how we'll overcome them instead of just repeating how flawed we are over and over again.