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This hard country
Pakistan is praised now and again for its 'resilience' in the face of adversity. But what exactly is this resilience? Leon Menezes takes to task a cliche of our times
We Pakistanis like to pride ourselves on our resilience and have lots of examples to prove it. But is this really resilience or a case of just giving up? And how do we get out of our slumber?
Take our security situation. For years, we have been buckling down to the various imported and home-grown threats plaguing us - AQ, Taliban, Punjabi Taliban, LT, L-e-J, SSP, and any others you can think of. Instead of getting to the root of the problem to eliminate these goons, we, as a nation, are 'adapting' to the situation by increasing security for state functionaries, buildings, and civilians.
Every government office and military installation is now a fortress; hotels, schools and hospitals are fortified by security apparatus; senior military, police, and government personnel require individual security when on the road as well as at their residences, and billions of rupees are being spent on a totally avoidable situation. We have 'Red Zones' in the major cities, ethnic minorities (who are Muslim) are being attacked across the country, and Karachi has eight to ten target-killings a day.
For individual citizens and homes, we have arranged with security companies to provide alarms and guards. Some residential areas have installed gates and barriers and we have restricted our movements to 'safe areas' and times. This is what we proudly call 'resilience.'
Our security forces are under attack themselves and have lost hundreds of colleagues. But who is taking the "strategic" view and doing something about it? Besides official statements vowing to "crush terrorism," we have knee-jerk reactions to every new episode: bomb blasts bring us police and Rangers' checking on the roads; target killings are dealt with by banning pillion-riding in Karachi. Seriously!
Another example of 'resilience': the failure of the state to provide quality education has resulted in the mushrooming business of private schools and colleges. Granted, many of these institutions in the private sector are doing a sterling job, but the collateral fallout has been the creation of seemingly class-based tiers where those with the capacity to afford have a huge advantage over those who don't. Add in the element of English-speaking versus 'non' and you have the makings of an entrenched divide in society and the workplace. But blaming the state entirely for this situation would not be fair as we don't have enough people paying their taxes (and our security considerations take up most of what we collect anyway). Again, our 'resilience' is misplaced.
And in these days of boiling temperatures, how can we ignore the electricity problem? When we first identified 'load-shedding' as a fact of life - this was some fifteen years ago - our typical response as a 'resilient lot' was to get generators for our offices and homes. Every attempt to put in hydroelectric solutions was literally 'dammed' by political interests. The 'solution,' it turned out conveniently, was to allow Independent Power Producers to set up business. This, of course, was roundly criticized for its potential to provide kickbacks and commissions to all and sundry. As it turned out, this was the only addition to the national grid for quite a while and, in 2006, we saw the emergence of Rental Power Plants. Leaving blatant corruption aside, we were indulging in expensive 'band-aid' solutions for mega injuries and are where we are now, excruciatingly short of electricity.
The situation is so bad in parts of the country where the previous load-shedding schedule of "three-hours on and one-hour off" has been inverted. The good thing now is that people are taking to the streets to demand an end to this nonsense. Violent protests have erupted (though these seem to be politically orchestrated) but at least we are now making our discontent known.
At a global level, how many countries can we travel to without the hassle of obtaining visas? There are only a few instances where visas are issued without a personal appearance and bio-metrics; for the rest, we pay hefty fees and still face the possibility of our applications being rejected. This is a far cry from the good old days of traveling the world with a 'visa-on-arrival' facility.
Yes, my dears, we are taking all of this on the chin, rolling with the punches, and living to fight another day. Wait - did I say "fight?"
Pakistan is praised now and again for its 'resilience' in the face of adversity. But what exactly is this resilience? Leon Menezes takes to task a cliche of our times
We Pakistanis like to pride ourselves on our resilience and have lots of examples to prove it. But is this really resilience or a case of just giving up? And how do we get out of our slumber?
Take our security situation. For years, we have been buckling down to the various imported and home-grown threats plaguing us - AQ, Taliban, Punjabi Taliban, LT, L-e-J, SSP, and any others you can think of. Instead of getting to the root of the problem to eliminate these goons, we, as a nation, are 'adapting' to the situation by increasing security for state functionaries, buildings, and civilians.
Every government office and military installation is now a fortress; hotels, schools and hospitals are fortified by security apparatus; senior military, police, and government personnel require individual security when on the road as well as at their residences, and billions of rupees are being spent on a totally avoidable situation. We have 'Red Zones' in the major cities, ethnic minorities (who are Muslim) are being attacked across the country, and Karachi has eight to ten target-killings a day.
For individual citizens and homes, we have arranged with security companies to provide alarms and guards. Some residential areas have installed gates and barriers and we have restricted our movements to 'safe areas' and times. This is what we proudly call 'resilience.'
Our security forces are under attack themselves and have lost hundreds of colleagues. But who is taking the "strategic" view and doing something about it? Besides official statements vowing to "crush terrorism," we have knee-jerk reactions to every new episode: bomb blasts bring us police and Rangers' checking on the roads; target killings are dealt with by banning pillion-riding in Karachi. Seriously!
Another example of 'resilience': the failure of the state to provide quality education has resulted in the mushrooming business of private schools and colleges. Granted, many of these institutions in the private sector are doing a sterling job, but the collateral fallout has been the creation of seemingly class-based tiers where those with the capacity to afford have a huge advantage over those who don't. Add in the element of English-speaking versus 'non' and you have the makings of an entrenched divide in society and the workplace. But blaming the state entirely for this situation would not be fair as we don't have enough people paying their taxes (and our security considerations take up most of what we collect anyway). Again, our 'resilience' is misplaced.
And in these days of boiling temperatures, how can we ignore the electricity problem? When we first identified 'load-shedding' as a fact of life - this was some fifteen years ago - our typical response as a 'resilient lot' was to get generators for our offices and homes. Every attempt to put in hydroelectric solutions was literally 'dammed' by political interests. The 'solution,' it turned out conveniently, was to allow Independent Power Producers to set up business. This, of course, was roundly criticized for its potential to provide kickbacks and commissions to all and sundry. As it turned out, this was the only addition to the national grid for quite a while and, in 2006, we saw the emergence of Rental Power Plants. Leaving blatant corruption aside, we were indulging in expensive 'band-aid' solutions for mega injuries and are where we are now, excruciatingly short of electricity.
The situation is so bad in parts of the country where the previous load-shedding schedule of "three-hours on and one-hour off" has been inverted. The good thing now is that people are taking to the streets to demand an end to this nonsense. Violent protests have erupted (though these seem to be politically orchestrated) but at least we are now making our discontent known.
At a global level, how many countries can we travel to without the hassle of obtaining visas? There are only a few instances where visas are issued without a personal appearance and bio-metrics; for the rest, we pay hefty fees and still face the possibility of our applications being rejected. This is a far cry from the good old days of traveling the world with a 'visa-on-arrival' facility.
Yes, my dears, we are taking all of this on the chin, rolling with the punches, and living to fight another day. Wait - did I say "fight?"
