Daily Times

71 years ago in Hoshiarpur, a city in Punjab fabled for mango groves and micro fortresses manned by Pathans, my teenage grandfather sat in the courtyard to catch the evening breeze. He had chosen to skip dinner, a privilege extended to the youngest child in any home. What’s the harm he thought, especially since his father always said, “You boys can be wakhray (scattered) at dinner so long as you’re akhatay (together) in battle.” A year later, that young man received a phone call in Saudi Arabia informing him that everyone present on that dinner table is dead.

Women, children, everyone — all dead. The house where part of the family made their last stand was later referred to as Khoon Haveli or Blood Mansion. Many of us are unaware that the partition was never supposed to happen in 1947. It was actually scheduled for 1948. It happened prematurely. As a result, people of Hoshiarpur and many others on both sides suddenly found themselves on the wrong side of the new border. They had to leave everything; their homes, their lands, their lives and migrate to their assigned nation. 1.2 million such people never made it to Pakistan. To this day they remain missing.

Should we celebrate a day on which millions were killed, pillaged and displaced? The answer is of course yes. We do not celebrate the tragedy, we honour it with remembrance. We remind ourselves what all this bloodshed and effort was for. We allocate a day to study and teach the next generation how their nation gained independence. We show the world with our mighty military parade how our nation will remain independent. Flags are flung. Anthems are sung. Statuses are updated and display pictures posted.

Then comes the 15th of August. Like an ambitious new years resolution, our patriotism evaporates. Seventy years ago, imagine what our forefathers felt on the 15th of August. They had an entire nation to console, heal, inspire and lead. They had to make dams, buildings, roads. They had to write books. They had to fortify their boarders and brawl with a neighbour five times bigger. They didn’t get everything perfect but they must be commended for taking up the massive task.

70 long years later, many of those problems are still relevant along with some new ones. That’s because nations cannot be built in a day. If they could then our forefathers should have retired on the 15th. Building nations is a constant process.

When I speak to my elders, they say that Pakistan on the 15th was full of zeal and anxious to get to work. They were invigorated to make Pakistan a great nation. For a long time, it certainly was. Along the way much happened. Mistakes were made. We had questionable dictatorships and bad governance. Our citizens started getting killed at the hands of religious extremism, sectarianism, ethnic and partisan divisions. We forgot why we are here. We forgot what it means to be a Pakistani. Instead we started associating with our tribes and provinces, or by our political parties and religious affiliations. That must stop. Before anything, we are Pakistanis. We are members of a nation whose foundational ideals must transcend all this if we are to improve the state of affairs.

Should we celebrate a day on which millions were killed, pillaged and displaced? The answer is that we don’t celebrate the tragedy but we honour its memory

We must take pride in being Pakistanis. I understand this nation is full of all sorts of people but we breathe the same air and share the same soil. I understand we are a young nation but we are a very old civilisation. I understand religion is a top priority for many people, but almost nothing in Pakistan’s noble ethos is incompatible with any religion. If anything, today’s mutated religions are in direct contradictions of their actual doctrines.

Our forefathers did everything they could; they gave us a home, protection and a vision. The rest is up to us. If we are to improve things, we have to first start with unity. You as a person and we as a community need to band together as one to stop hate mongering and the influence of ignorant groups. They do nothing except turn Pakistan exactly into the kind of place that our forefathers fought to leave. Secondly we have to give precedence to the next batch. We are home to one of the world’s largest population of young peoples. They need education from schools. Those schools need trained teachers and a constructive curriculum.

Pakistan is meant to be a prosperous nation — a sanctuary for the weak and persecuted. A bastion for the best of Islam.A nation that protects its lush forests and beautiful glaciers. That cares for its citizens and nurtures its youth. We have our differences every family does but our fates are intertwined. We can eat wakhray but we need to battle, build, and blossom akhatay. Remember August 14th is a holiday but the 15th of August isn’t, so get up and get to work to make Pakistan proud.

The writer is an agriculturist with degrees in Economics and Mass Communication. He can be reached at Skhanzada@ymail.com

Published in Daily Times, August 14^th 2017.