Daily Times

Narendra Modi and Imran Khan are both “good friends” of Trump and like the big man himself both are full of bluster and hot air. I venture to opine that Imran Khan’s speech at the UNGA will come to haunt us again and again. In essence he admitted the most common charge against Muslims in the West – he admitted that Muslims were intolerant of criticism of their faith. He also said Muslims are likely to get radicalized by even the minutest criticism of Islam and then he went onto raise the spectre of nuclear war. His dragging in of Indian Muslims and making them look like fifth columnists has put 180 million Indian Muslims at risk in India. In my opinion these emotional outbursts are not going to win us Kashmir.

The forum at the UN demands a certain amount of decorum and reasoned discourse not rambling war cries. Bhutto made this mistake 1971 and the consequence of that was devastating to our country. It was jugglery pure and simple. Imran Khan it seems follows the Bhutto school of thought – using the UN forum to address supporter base back home. I honestly expected better. After all the PM does not tire telling us that he knows the West better than anyone else and his supporters always remind us that he went to Oxford. Then again Bhutto also went to Oxford so perhaps that is neither here nor there. It would have been much better if Imran Khan had followed in the footsteps of Sir Zafrullah Khan who effective advocacy won us the UN Resolutions. There was no mock tough rhetoric there, only a reasoned and legal discourse on Kashmir. Tragically that example has been forgotten because of our own biases against Zafrullah Khan’s community.

This past week I happened to be in Seoul some 50 kilometers south of the De-Militarized Zone in Korea. I mention this because my hosts have been in a state of war since the 1950s. Yet what they have managed in South Korea is real and true statesmanship- a miracle that has brought all of their people out of poverty. A visitor to Seoul is shocked by how technologically advanced they are as a society. Seoul is at least five years ahead of any western city including New York and the Silicon Valley. They have done this without nuclear weapons and posturing on the world stage. It is a completely egalitarian and gender balanced society entirely modern. Even though 56 percent of South Korea does not associate with any faith, it does not mean that they are decadent. For example pornography is completely banned in the country and even the production of pornography is illegal. This makes the country stand apart from Japan and other Asian nations of the Far East. They are socially responsible, green and self-sustaining as an economy. Discipline, selflessness, sincerity of purpose and a sense of self respect are their hallmark as a people. As a lawyer I was invited to speak at and engage with leading law firms in that country and their law firms are mega-firms, the kind we cannot even imagine in Pakistan. The sincerity of purpose and honesty has also translated into great worldly progress. How many times have you seen a South Korean leader bluster at the UN? That bit is left to the unimaginative hereditary leader of the North of that country Chairman Marshall Kim Jong-un. Like us North Korea is a nuclear power but one which cannot adequately feed its people, living entirely on the sponsorship and charity of China. Every now and then the North threatens the South to rain fire on Seoul. So far ahead is the South though that no one in Seoul takes that threat seriously, sitting only 50 km to the South.

It is time we kept a low profile and got on with the task of a building a great and successful economy. Once we are economically strong, our various causes will get a new lease of life

Good news for Pakistan is 2500 of our students are enrolled in PhD programs in South Korea, all in advanced sciences. This human capital may one day rescue Pakistan and imbue in us the spirit that has made South Korea what it is today. After all Pakistan has an ancient and historic link with Korea. The great Marananta who brought Buddhism to Korea in 4th Century AD came from Swabi. Kudos to our current Ambassador, His Excellency Rahim Hayat, and his team for getting this recognised in Korea. Till recently Koreans were told Marananta was an Indian monk. India was a term of somewhat later origin and you cannot post hoc ascribe a national identity to a monk who lived in 4th Century AD. Pakistan Embassy’s masterly advocacy on the issue has resulted in it now being inscribed that Marananta came from Gandhara, which is in Pakistan.

Korea learnt Buddhism from us and Buddhism enriched its society. It is now time for us to learn from Korea in the 21st Century. We must build an effective and efficient society that works for its people and delivers from the economic quagmire we find ourselves in. We already have the motto- unity in ranks, faith in ourselves and discipline in all walks of life. It is time we learned how to apply this motto from Korea. Militarism and bluster has not gotten us anywhere. It is time we kept a low profile and got on with the task of a building a great and successful economy. Once we are economically strong, our various causes will get a new lease of life. The choice is simple: Do we want be a bankrupt militaristic state like North Korea, or do we want to be a world leader like South Korea? The first path promises poverty, irrelevance and humiliation in the world. The latter path promises success and progress. Let us choose to be a South Korea. Let us learn true statesmanship from their example.

The writer is is an Advocate of the High Courts of Pakistan