Daily Times

Does your head spin when Pakistan performs so poorly in the league of nations with all its natural resources: gold mines, copper reserves, ore iron and natural gas? Does a shiver creep up your spine when you notice that our geographical location can translate into an ideal international trade route generating revenue? However, for some reason, it has acclaimed itself as the epicentre of political instability and international terrorism. Does it churn your stomach when our access to warm waters stretched over hundreds of miles does not help us reduce the trade deficit but rather sparks interethnic conflicts?
Not insignificant by any standards, with these treasures at our disposal we deserve to be the most developed country in the region, not an unstable one, one pulled down by corruption, incompetence or terrorism, and definitely not one compared to Somalia, Congo or Sierra Leone. And our largest city, Karachi, the country’s financial hub, has to pit itself against Singapore, Dubai, Seoul or Hong Kong not against Kabul, Mogadishu or Sanaa.
Even countries that won independence after us have left Pakistan far behind in education, the economy and modernisation. Above all, India, our archrival, keeps seizing victories in trade whereas we tend to lose on every front. Do we think these countries do not face corruption as a threat, their people exhibit more patriotism or their cultural divisions promote constructive debate? Disturbing, is it not since, on an individual level, all human beings, including Pakistanis, carry equal intelligence. That explains why, when we get a chance to go abroad, we stay in the same league as westerners, never behind. Notwithstanding that, the question is: why do we fail collectively?
Sure, politicians can be blamed for our poor performance. Their corruption and dishonesty has contributed to our collapse, no doubt about it. But tell me: are Indian politicians less corrupt than ours? Have you not looked at the intricacies of their political structure? They have to compromise on their honesty to win the elections in such a complicated system. And, as the stakes grow higher, the compromise gets larger and larger.
Yes, I know we have to include the utter failure of our education system in securing our future. Instead of being uniform across the nation, our system produces servants (slaves) in the government (public) schools that now exist as an endangered species, their numbers reduced, their buildings converted to stables and dairy farms, their staff spending more time at home or serving another employer and their students busy in everything except academics. While the same system sculpts masters (rulers) in private schools, some of which are so expensive that they charge hundreds of dollars every month in tuition fees. In between the two extremes — the public and the US system schools — lie every blend, every model and every colour: schools built within a residential house invoicing a few hundred every month to private chains with thousands of rupees in tuition fees. Trust me, the quality of education varies with their price, the higher the rate the better the education, and here every cent counts. Simply put, if there were Fifty Shades of Grey for E L James, there are 1,500 shades of private schools in Pakistan each serving, above everything else, one objective: minting money for the owner.
Many of us think it is the slow Islamisation of Pakistan, introduced and reinforced by the martial law administrator General Ziaul Haq. Their hearts throb as they watch the nation adopt increasingly conservative values. They call it a slow Talibanisation of Pakistan. People like Imran Khan believe it is nothing but lack of justice, prevalence of corruption and absence of accountability that drags us behind. Then, there are others who believe it is terrorism alone that bears the most responsibility. In short, there exists a long list of items that can be attributed as reasons for our inability to break our shackles. However, I think that in this list what may be missed and may in fact be the most important factor is the lack of trust between the citizens and the security apparatus. If people think that their lives are endangered by the very forces supposed to protect them, then I guess no society can function or move forward, no matter how gifted its people and how magnificent its resources.
A similar situation arose after the assassination of Sabeen Mahmud, a social justice activist who had arranged a seminar on Balochistan. I find it hard to believe the notion that she was silenced by the agencies because of her audacity to initiate the discussion in a public forum on the mysterious situation prevailing in the largest province of Pakistan. Acting on impulse, I just cannot fathom — maybe I am too naïve — that any wing of our own military would take such a drastic step for a small organisation and a relatively unknown individual. How many people had heard of Sabeen Mahmud before her assassination? Very few, but her death has made her an esteemed martyr. And the cause for which she had to give up her life, instead of dying with her, has set off a new wave of defiance. More people are talking about Balochistan than ever before. They may not be loud and prominent but their message is clear, a message of anger and resentment.
Is that really a good strategy? Trust me, silencing people through force and coercion fails to pay off in the long run although one may reap some short-term benefits. It creates a gap of mistrust and suspicion between the people and its forces, a gap that has grown wider every year. It needs to be bridged for Pakistan to best utilise its resources without which no treasure is strong enough to pull us out of our self-created quagmire.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com