THE dichotomy often strikes with a jolting revelation that the 77-year journey of Pakistan mainly signifies the destiny of an adrift nation marching in the false direction from the word go. Over and above a dichotomy paradox, the collective wrong turn thus far culminating in the wrong side of history is dotted with a blood-ridden migration, an unforgivable delay in constitution-making, the abrogation of an already lately promulgated Constitution by the use of force, together with the breakup of the hard-won country merely after 24 years of its inception.
However, as things stand at present, the unfinished task of nation-building is winding up to the extent that the well-cherished concept of ideology-driven nationhood, laced with the academic sense of togetherness, is losing steam at a breakneck pace. Thanks to the country’s increasingly deteriorating human development indicators, the citizenry is now thinking of moving in droves from the promised land to far-flung regions across the globe with a ghost of a chance to make a new beginning in uncharted territories.
Pursuing enviable means of subsistence beyond national borders, the ubiquitous mindset of fellow citizens is heavily tainted with a rapidly flourishing desire to permanently settle in every nook and cranny of the world other than their own homeland. This prevailing perspective of desertion can be compared to the spectacle of mass animal migration on earth, but only on a seasonal basis. Most interestingly, the beasts tend to be more patriotic than human beings as they cling to their soil and return to their permanent abode once the need for their long-distance movement to a transitory habitat is over.
The vicious chain of events of national panic is rapidly metastasizing from a subjective infatuation to a widespread plague afflicting virtually all segments of an over 242 million population, particularly the youth. Hailing from a society that mistreats its minorities, belittles its women, punishes its children for their innocence, and fails its youth time and again, what is left for the younger generation of this part of the world other than a faint hope about their bright future?
In a crisis-stricken land, the pressing issue concerning the country’s youth is its future well-being, with an increasing public distrust of the governance institutions.
The people in power and the citizenry en masse must come forward to restore the depleting confidence of the younger generation in their ability to chart the future course of the system along the right lines.
Depleting confidence
In the thick of a profound socio-economic crisis that delineates our national identity in the global community, it is incumbent on the policymakers in general and the society to restore the depleting confidence of the younger generation in their ability to chart a future course of the system along the right lines, invigorating them with a renewed hope for tomorrow replete with equal opportunities, growth prospects, and possibilities to change for the better.
Seemingly a formidable task, the people in power and the citizenry en masse must come forward to devise and implement a multipronged plan of action in order to bail the youth out of existential crisis. Ahead of everything else, however, a great deal of introspection and soul-searching is required to figure out the dilemma behind the prevailing wave of pessimism, public opprobrium, and all-encompassing frustration fast replacing the collective reasoning with an outburst of agitation and anguish, being very much in evidence all over the place.
When it comes to youth in particular — the golden age of one’s life bursting with exuberance and intense energy — it is always a matter of deep concern to see the youthful period being turned into an age of unrest and uncertainty, struggling with its own well-being as well as with the overall poor functioning of the government apparatus, together with the erratic delivery of civic amenities and public services with no clear sign in sight for any improvement.
Other than confronting the scourges of illiteracy and unemployment, the plight of the young generation is multifaceted. They have not only been denied their fundamental right to education and the rest of the rights as enshrined in the Constitution, but they have also been used by former regimes for their own vested interests. Having repeatedly been exploited by the state machinery in the name of political awakening and holy militarism, the youth often find themselves at the lowest rung of the country’s priority ladder in terms of policy attention and are often left in the lurch of state apathy and wonton abandonment at the hand of those who are supposed to take care of them and protect their future.
For generations upon generations, those with minimum education and low socio-economic profiles have been trapped in a never-ending cycle of chronic deprivation in the form of such multiple shortcomings as absolute poverty, persistent economic hardship, low employment opportunities and overall lower life satisfaction. To make things worse, the rampant murder of meritocracy both in the public education and employment sectors sends the wrong message to the young generation.
On the face of it, rekindling hope in the crisis-hit people to shoulder responsibility for making a better tomorrow is an easy undertaking. However, their increasing distrust of the government and public institutions is a major stumbling block that can only be removed through goal-driven action rather than hollow rhetoric. We are no longer living in a place once known for its progressive credentials and thriving economy. If truth be told, we now belong to a country struggling to survive, and those who are at the helm of power should take no time to deliver well before the country’s citizens are reduced to a global liability.
Though it may seem improbable, the robust economic performance of a particular regime is not the only yardstick to determine the success or failure of governance. Practically speaking, despite the economic deceleration and fiscal crisis, there are myriad ways an effective government can offer much-needed relief to the people, restore their confidence in the system, and win their trust back. Besides sustainable economic growth and job creation, for instance, the standard parameters of good governance also include maintaining the rule of law, the government’s capacity to formulate, implement, and achieve its policy goals, accountability, transparency, community engagement, responsiveness, the respect of government institutions that regulate the economic and social environments, and unrestricted access to information.
The aforementioned attributes, which delineate the basic functioning of the government apparatus, must be within the state’s capacity to be carried out effectively. However, the current governance crisis, together with the successive governments’ proven inability to perform their basic functions, has done a great disservice to the state-building process, leaving the citizens in a state of insecurity and despair. The government and political stakeholders need to determine all possible ways to improve the delivery system and increase the state’s capacity to fulfil its obligations.
Although the onus behind the underperforming governance structure lies on the ruling elite, the alibi of poor governance cannot exempt civil society and the intelligentsia from their prime responsibility for not rising to the occasion for the betterment of the country’s youth. Whenever the need arises, the young population is used as fodder to feed the rapidly-fluctuating narrative of the state.
Besides sustainable economic growth and job creation, the standard parameters of good governance also include maintaining the rule of law, the government’s capacity to formulate, implement, and achieve its policy goals, accountability and transparency.
In the prevailing scenario teeming with despair and rampant desolation, equally responsible is the literati, not to exclude the lot of intellectuals, opinion leaders, poets, writers, media persons, and filmmakers, who have miserably failed to draw their attention to the overarching pessimism now deep-seated into the collective psyche of the nation. In the neighbouring nation, there has been a consistent effort to strengthen the nation’s self-consciousness and raise its patriotic spirit and national morale, especially through films and TV shows, which are purposefully produced to elevate the young population to the forefront of positive change, grab their attention to sports participation, let them represent the country, and raise its flag in global competitions. Such on-and-off attempts have been made in Pakistan, too. Still, the power of cinema has never been fully exploited to bring about much-needed change, with the film outlet being one of the most effective means of public education, mass awareness, and enlightenment.
The widespread hopelessness and despair among the people can also be attributed to the lack of a vision. As it took place not too many years ago, that was the power of a unifying vision that propelled about four million Muslims of India to literally cross the river of blood in pursuit of a better tomorrow in a land of their own. Though the ongoing melancholy and gloom gripping the nation cannot overshadow the heart-rending saga of the blood-ridden migration of 1947, it is, in a word, a severe vision loss hampering our ability to see the one bright spot — Pakistan.
This too shall pass
This too shall pass. However, it’s the collective failure of the intelligentsia, civil society, clergy, the media, the powers that be, and the political leadership, particularly of the current dispensation, to address the lack of a shared sense of an inspiring, unifying vision that boosts the low morale of a crisis-hit nation.
“The art of living is always to make a good thing out of a bad thing,” says German-born British economist E.F. Schumacher, author of Small is Beautiful. Despite all odds, the world has not come to an end for the nation. Together, we can do a lot more to rekindle the faith in the future and revive the dying hope in the youth and general population. Instead of offering them a route to escapism, as many thought leaders are doing, all creative minds need to employ the best of their skills and capabilities to create moving content in order to raise the nation’s spirit and show the local audience a window of opportunity still open in times of crisis.
As Pakistan completes its 77-year journey today, it is time to reflect on the sacrifices made by those who fought for its freedom and revisit the country’s failure to become the welfare state as envisioned by its founding fathers. After all, Pakistan could be referred to as an opportunity that is not fully utilised, but it is not a paradise lost. As a nation, we must refer back to the country’s founding purpose and set its house in order to re-emerge as a progressive nation with the help of visionary leadership, a clear-cut development roadmap, and an unwavering commitment to putting our overblown egos and biases aside for the greater interest of the nation.
No country can move forward at the expense of its young population. Many nations have been able to turn their youth bulge into the engine of economic development and industrial growth. In a similar vein, our primary responsibility is to invest heavily in our young talent, creating quality human resources and stopping the brain drain by offering them career-oriented opportunities based on their aptitude and future aspirations. In place of rabble-rousers and instigators, our young generation deserves a reformer like Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to help them walk the enlightenment path, coupled with the most inspiring role models in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. In a knowledge-based economy, ignorance is akin to a crime. Let our youth acquire quality education, be well-versed in modern technologies, be fully trained for practical life, and let them venture into business and entrepreneurship.
Pakistan needs fresh blood — those who come up with new out-of-the-box ideas, innovate new ways to replace the conventional methods, add value to existing creations, make the most of the AI (artificial intelligence) revolution, and become an inevitable part of a socially responsible society. We need to nurture the most aspiring lot of young men and women who can draw the most ambitious roadmap dotted with future milestones and dare dream about reaching for the stars, getting to the Moon and Mars, and even beyond. From the 2040 Lahore Asian Games to the Karachi Olympics 2048, and from winning the third Nobel Prize for the country to owning a Fortune 500 firm, nothing can ever replace the scores of innocent yet grand ambitions dreamt up by a young brain day in, day out.
That was in the mid-1930s, when a 14-year-old boy, who was an exceptional Urdu poet, a firebrand orator, and one of the youngest freedom activists of the Pakistan Movement, emerged on the podium in the very presence of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to chant the movement’s most popular slogan, ‘Lay ke rahain ge Pakistan, butt ke rahay ga Hindustan.’
Taking the audience by surprise, including Quaid-i-Azam himself, that was indeed a beautifully alliterative, semantically reinforcing, and equally enthusiastic couplet replete with juvenile audacity carrying the collective inspiration for the Muslims of British India. Penned and read by Kaif Banarsi, a budding poet yet a die-hard proponent of independence who migrated from India to Pakistan post-independence with all his heart, mind, and soul, his rhyming lines best summarised the shared motif and the desired end of a decades-long yet truly political freedom struggle, serving as the rallying point as well as a perfect verbal vehicle for the mass expression of prevailing freedom sentiments and targeting both the Hindu hegemony and British colonialism in one go.
Buried in the depth of mass ignorance, Banarsi’s spirit of unconditional devotion to an envisioned country that was yet to emerge on the map of the world now stands in marked contrast with a rapidly subduing patriotic fervour that characterises the current national narrative, oscillating between a transactional loyalty with the motherland and an undying love of country with no strings attached. There is a fine line between making a great escape from formidable challenges confronting the country and a severe loyalty test facing the whole nation. Be that as it may, it’s high time we revive the fighting spirit of the erstwhile All-India Muslim League in our people, as only the likes of fully animated and passionate young souls like Kaif Banarsi can stand up for the cause, which this time is not about creating a new country but saving the existing one.
