Daily Times

Take a deep, hard look around yourself. Did you see it? No? Look harder because this is not the country of our forefathers anymore. Contrary to popular opinion, change has, indeed, found its way to us. Perhaps even more so than any other time in its history, Pakistan is undergoing a rapid socio-cultural transformation vis-à-vis its class, age, economic and ideological structure.

Over the years, Pakistan has seen considerable development and modernisation in various sectors. Where there once used to be dirty pathways, there now stand mighty flyovers; similarly, tongas and carts have been replaced by motorcycles and automobiles. On a relative scale, the current generation of Pakistanis is more educated, earns more money in nominal terms, occupies more urban space and is more integrated with, and aware of, its international surroundings. International clothing brands and food chains are visible in our markets now and more Pakistanis are reaping the benefits of the technological innovations of recent times. To top it all, a lot of us have found our way overseas, and continue to earn a livelihood in other countries.

But, as always in the Pakistani story, there is a catch. Development seldom proceeds uniformly in a single direction but its unbalanced nature at home should make us think twice about the route we are headed down. In the absence of a functioning state and a consensus over how we ought to live, the very fabric of society is being ripped apart under pressure from the opposing forces of modernisation and traditionalism. Additionally, where the country has seen more and more hard, infrastructural development, other ‘softer’ aspects, such as human rights protection, social equality, access to justice, transparency, accountability, inclusiveness and participation are still lacking in society. The Pakistani state does not realise how the development of a civic order and institutional infrastructure can bear fruit over multiple generations, and that is a worrying thought.

As M Abdul Qadeer remarks in Pakistan: Social and Cultural Transformations in a Muslim Nation (2011), Pakistan boasts of being a nuclear state when hardly any city has functional sewerage treatment facilities. We might be earning more as a nation but the poorest among us are yet to see the benefits trickle down. The Pakistani diaspora may form a sizeable part of many populations abroad but these linkages are yet to result in any indigenous improvements back home.

This kind of imbalanced change can be seen through the uneven impact of globalisation in the country. This has resulted in an increase in ‘material’ consumption, without any progress in ‘non-material’ ideals. Material culture can simply be defined as the patterns of consumption in a society, whereas its non-material variant controls how we conduct ourselves on a day-to-day basis. In our effort to give a ‘Pakistani’ flair to modernisation/globalisation, we have lost its essence. Where we may have inherited the consumption patterns of developed societies, we still lag far behind them in terms of human development and civic sensibilities. As a result, honesty, truthfulness, punctuality, efficiency, objectivity, professionalism and tolerance remain mere words, shunned from appearing in our quotidian lives.

This void manifests itself in a variety of ways. We have the latest automobiles but we cannot be bothered with following basic traffic rules. We have the latest food chains but, every night, a sizeable portion of our populace sleeps on an empty stomach. We speak multiple languages but cannot utter words of kindness to each other. What happens when a society is experiencing rapid development in its material culture and, at the same time, is seeing a revival of antediluvian values in the national mainstream? What happens is what is happening in Pakistan right now. The ever-increasing chasm between material and non-material culture gets filled with shoddy ideologies, lofty ideals and spurious conspiracies.

That is why we go to ‘faith healers’ even when the latest healthcare technologies are available. Medical experts themselves give exhortations on how one should offer ‘sadqa’ (animal sacrifice) to ward off evil spirits. Students, rather than studying, haggle for ‘special’ amulets from equally ‘special’ witchdoctors. Some nutcase claims to run a car on water and we fall over each other, trying to proclaim our “potential for innovation”.

Sad as it may be, the question we should ask ourselves at this point is: where does it all lead? How far do we have to go before we look down and realise that the ground has vanished beneath our feet?

In my opinion, we are en route to seeing an even more stratified society in terms of social class, material wealth and equality of opportunity. A new social order demands a renewed moral code that is not in opposition to the nature of change in a society but, unless we can switch our habits and develop a more sustainable and equitable national attitude, we will continue to be an uncouth lot, riding away into the sunset on paved dual-carriageways in our fancy cars.

The author is a freelance columnist with degrees in political science and international relations