Daily Times

What is the most palatable, enticing and rather “tried-and-tested” public-provocation-gimmick in Pakistan? It can’t be politics, for sure, as bashing a political party faring bad gets temporary goods in the morning and counter flak in the evening. The heterogeneity among the public’s political standpoints is intense and intertwines at will. On the other hand, one doesn’t stand a chance if one is a mutineer: abetting mutiny in this country is no less than playing with fire, a stint that might garner some accolades temporarily but get thwarted right away. Forget about taking a dig at your opponent’s religious doctrine, because that might leave you teetering on the brink of serious troubles.

So what sets public sentiments on fire?

Let me say it the Persian way: “Marg-bar-Amrika,” meaning “Down with America”–a less crude and impotent translation. Out of so many stories we have cooked in our backyard, the “anti-America-narrative” stands out as the most illustrious benchmark of hatred and despise. For us, Americans brought ruins on our Muslim brethren, entangled us into proxy wars, encroached our air bases, made grounds for the then three million Afghan refugees to sneak into Pakistan, trespassed to hunt down Jihadists, influenced Islamic ideologies in textbooks, facilitated spy NGOs and played roles in the toppling of thrones, to say the least. Wow! With this smorgasbord of allegations, America certainly looks like an evil and we should part ways with them, right?

Ironically, we’ve chosen to preserve the US as a necessary evil, a pretty twofold stance, essentially. Despite the great motley of allegations, we are not saying “Marg-bar-Amrika” to the US, as Iran did in past. On the other hand, our state actors are yet busy concocting anti-American gens, bruiting it out as a national narrative, proliferating it digitally across the country, drawing hatred manuals behind closed doors and igniting the sentiments on roads. From “Marg-bar-Amrika” to “Absolutely Not,” the conviction in our voices goes from weak to fainter, and it’s all because we’re perhaps blurred to the core, and programmed to cherry-pick the narrative we think is drool-worthy. We aren’t sure whether to keep the US or leave the US.

USAID had started taking desperate relief measures even before the government had woken up from its slumber.

As a matter of fact, for instance, Iranians don’t live in denial, as long as they are friends, they are friends. When it is over, they part ways. Iran bears no formal diplomatic relations with the US since 1980. With no embassy in Washington DC, US citizens do not travel to Iran, particularly after the Persian Gulf crisis. Once good allies, they both called it a day as the Islamic Revolution closed in on–over four decades. Iran blamed the US for the undue overthrowing of PM Mohammed Mossadeq, the imposition of oil embargoes by the West, having ownership of 40 per cent of Iranian Oil in the past and framing Iran as a tinderbox. Both of them have had their wires crossed whereupon someone had to get it off the chest. So did they both, and the results were complete cut-offs, supplies severed and no allegiance whatsoever. With this historical tinge, the chanting of “Marg-bar-Amrika” slogans making rounds of Tehran’s down streets should make sense now!

The paradox of the US-Pak balance sheet, however, is different; an extended version of Einstein’s special theory of relativity–perplexing! We think we are enemies, but we also think that we are not enemies. We think we should leave America, but then we also think that we should keep America. It seems either the US don’t want to spend money on its framing in Pakistan, or else, the bucks being splashed out here simply go into holed hands–from the horse’s mouth!

The fact of the matter is that the US was among the first few who recognized us in 1947, and helped us establish the Institute for Business Administration (IBA); Lahore University for Management Sciences (LUMS); the Indus Basin Project; Faisalabad Agricultural Institute; Guddu Power Station in Sindh; Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center and a variety of other efforts that laid the path for Pakistan’s Green Revolution. It was the major donor for the construction of the Mangla and Tarbela dams, which is catering the lion’s share of Pakistan’s energy needs.

Besides, USAID is leading efforts to save lives, reduce poverty and help people emerge from humanitarian crises and progress beyond assistance. Just in the last ten years, Pakistan received a whopping $7.7 billion of funding from USAID, while becoming the US’s largest recipient of foreign assistance. US has consumed tens of millions in the education sector, allowing Pakistani students to hold seats in schools like Stanford and MIT. It also spends heavily on open trade and investment environments with an emphasis on private sector partnerships including entrepreneurship, networking, and innovation, particularly for youth, women, and marginalized populations.

Despite the Trump administration’s announcement of a $300 million cut in military aid to its South Asian “ally,” the financial aid Pakistan had received till that point in time was already over $14 billion: to combat terrorism and insurgents in the region.

In recent floods, USAID has provided $30 million in humanitarian assistance to support the people affected by severe flooding in Pakistan since mid-June. USAID disaster management specialists and their staff across the world have been working in close coordination with local partners, the Govt of Pakistan, and the US Embassy in Islamabad. The provision of emergency support in the capacity of food, nutrition, multi-purpose cash, safe water, improved sanitation and hygiene, and shelter assistance is duly extended to mitigate the crises. USAID started taking desperate measures even before the government had woken up from its slumber. By the time the latter realized the gravity of the matter, the flood had wreaked havoc.

So all gain, no pain? The stories you hear, produce, and spread across the arena don’t stop USAID from sanctioning funds and helping the deprived.

What should I call it? Hypocrisy, dichotomy, double-faced misery or a characteristic of an impotent state with no standpoint, no policy but a lot of emotions running in its veins? While our rhetoric and airy-fairy brags bear no fruits, our neighbourhood is booming: paving the way into Silicon Valley, attaining CEO positions in tech giants, becoming the world’s best economies, touching Mars and progressing leaps and bounds.

We honestly have to rethink who we are, what we want, who we want to bash, what are our priorities, who should we leave and who we should keep. And the most important question: are we a victim of foreign conspiracy or are we conspirer ourselves?

The writer is based in Islamabad. He can be reached at: mbilal.isbpk@gmail.com.