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Posted by admin in PAKISTAN BRIGHT FUTURE on April 17th, 2013
Like yours truly, Leslie Noyes Mass was a Peace Corps Volunteer fifty years ago, recently returned to the country of her assignment: Pakistan. But unlike what I observed during my recent return to Africa, Mass discovered a significantly different country: more education for young children, an exploding population, and a country not nearly as friendly to the United States as it was when she was there years ago. I wouldn’t call any of these changes a great surprise, yet I found Back to Pakistan totally engaging for the contrasts I have already mentioned—plus the mirroring of some of the experiences I encountered as a volunteer in Nigeria.
Mass was dumped in Dhamke, twenty or so miles from Lahore, with few guidelines as to what she was expected to do. Ostensibly, community development, but it was expected that she would generate her own project(s) unlike some of the other volunteers who as teachers had clearly defined tasks. Her living facilities were basic, exacerbated by her gender as an unmarried
woman is a Muslim community. Initially, she was frustrated and angry: “Now what? I had no idea. And I was mad at the Peace Corps for botching up my assignment. But I was determined to figure out a way to work in this village.”
Drawing on her letters to friends back home, Mass is able to provide vivid details and feelings about her initial impressions of Pakistan (and her assignment) all those years ago. Here’s a paragraph from a letter to her boyfriend (later to be her husband), dated October 19, 1962: “The Volunteers here seem to be living pretty well and though some are equally disgusted with the lack of job definition, I am the orphan of the group. No other woman is alone in a village; everyone else has, at least, a place to live and a real job. The teachers have already started teaching and the men assigned to agricultural extension and engineering projects all have co-workers. But we Community Development workers are on our own. No one really knows what we are supposed to do.” She’s upset that her attempts to reach out to women in the community are largely unsuccessful. This is no huge surprise, given the restrictions on women’s lives (and their mobility) at the time and the country’s literacy rate of 12%. But when she is transferred to Sheikhupura months later, Mass realizes that she had made significant inroads into the lives of the Dhamke women.
Shift to 2009. Mass returns to Pakistan with several others, including people who were in the Peace Corps all those years ago. She’s been teaching for decades, earned a doctorate in early and middle school education, and retired from her job as director of an educational program at Ohio Wesleyan University. She’s a pro, accustomed to training teachers, which she and her friends will do in Pakistan for several months. They have been successful with making arrangements with The Citizens Foundation (TCF), a private organization that has set up several hundred schools across the country since the government-sponsored schools are sadly lacking. TCF has had major successes in the country, largely because of its curriculum and the dedication of its teachers who are women only.
Mass, thus, in 2009 is part volunteer, part educational expert, part tourist, keenly attuned to all the differences in the country from the first time she worked there. The activities with TCF are totally professional, and instantly rewarding. But it is an incident related to her by Ateed Riaz, one of the organization’s founding directors, that is most revealing to Mass (and to this reader), providing the context for the country’s education and development: “A friend of mine went to the city of Medina and went to a woman squatting on the floor selling something. He negotiated with her, but she would not sell to him. She said, ‘If you like it, buy it from that other tradeswoman. I will not sell it to you.’ So he got a local to come and talk to her in her own language. She talked to the local and explained that she had already sold enough that day and that other woman had not yet sold any, so I should buy from her. The message is clear: We need to help each other.”
The beauty of Back to Pakistan: A Fifty-Year Journey is Leslie Noyes Mass’s hindsight, combined with her insight. The book intermixes the two times instead of following a linear narrative and abounds in Mass’s first-hand reports from all those years earlier, sent as missives to her friends. Yes, I was predisposed to enjoy this book because of my own educational journey, and I confess that some of the passages describing her activities with TCF (administrators, teachers and pupils) may seem too pedantic to the average reader. But there are wonderful moments throughout the entire book, such as this one, just as Mass and her friends are going to depart from Lahore: “The schoolmaster said, in a mish-mash of English, Urdu, and Punjabi that he and all the village were happy that I had come back because it shows that not all Americans view Pakistan as a dangerous place where everyone is a terrorist.”
Charles R. Larson is Emeritus Professor of Literature at American University, in Washington, D.C. Email: [email protected].
Posted by admin in BALOCHISTAN-A RAY OF HOPE FOR PAKISTAN, PAKISTAN BRIGHT FUTURE, Pakistan-A Nation of Hope, Pakistan-US Relations, PAKISTANIS LIGHT UP THE WORLD, US on April 8th, 2013
I belong to the minority of people who actually know the correct pronunciation of “Abbottabad,” unlike President Obama, or Jon Stewart because I grew up there. While I have always taken interest in socio-political issues in Pakistan, this time it was a little surreal.
Walk into an average household in Pakistan in the late afternoon and its not unusual to find middle aged men gathered over tea and biscuits discussing politics with a healthy dose of lambasting America. Its also not uncommon to find them charmed by the likes of Angelina Jolie or the prospects of sending their children for higher education to America.
Why do Pakistanis have such mixed opinions about America? On the one hand, they love American pop culture, jeans, and Hollywood. On the other, the percentage of people that view the United States as favorable is lower in Pakistan than in Egypt, Lebanon, or in the Palestinian territories.
So it’s no wonder that the Western world struggles to understand Pakistanis. I sometimes wonder if we Pakistanis even understand ourselves. In this section, we will use the powerful combination of citizen journalism and social media to explore these questions, and others.
As a member of the HuffPost Tech Team, I approached the editorial side after the event in Abbottabad. I felt there was a strong need to explore the diversity of viewpoints among Pakistanis to make sense of the complex and vulnerable relationship between Americans and Pakistanis. I felt that an honest and open social dialogue was crucial.
We have been gathering opinions from Pakistanis on a range of issues via Skype, email, and personal interviews on the streets. This series, Voices of Pakistan, will pull together their responses to our questions, as well as commentaries from a diverse group of writers and bloggers.
The first thing to know about Pakistanis is that they are not a monolithic group, and questions like, “What do Pakistanis think?” will never have a single right answer.
Like any country with hundreds of millions of people, Pakistan is heterogeneous, varied, and complex, comprising multiple ethnicities, languages, and cultures. While the Islamic religion unites the majority of Pakistanis, it also divides them at the sectarian level, often violently.
There are too many people suffering in Pakistan because of extremism, illiteracy, and poverty. I worry about the country I grew up in. I would like to see a shift in the focus of the media from the stereotypes to the more positive aspects of Pakistanis that can be tapped and utilized as a tool to drive social change. We have developed this forum as a place where Pakistanis can be heard speaking for themselves. Resolution will come, but not without a diagnosis.
Below are some of the preliminary responses we have gathered to our questions:
The first question we asked Pakistanis was “What would you like America and the rest of the world to know about Pakistan that you feel they don’t right now?”
Azhar Ali, 65, retired professor believes that the US should have attempted to understand the dynamics of the Pakistani nation and its people instead of focusing on the Pakistan military.
“Ignoring the aspirations of throbbing nation of 180 million people for so long has wounded the Pakistani nation psyche irreparably and the military is no more all powerful due to self inflicted serious wounds.“
Arsalan believes that its the paradoxical nature of the nation that makes it hard to understand.
“Not all of us want to kill you or rob you but a few of us might. We’re a land of paradoxes in so many ways that its almost farcical, a land of rebels and conformists, philanthropists and con artists, murderers and poets.“
Many others who responded were concerned by Western media’s portrayal of Pakistan.
“I think Americans think that we are all stereotypes,” said Syed Harris Hassan, 22, a university student in Islamabad. “They think that all the people in Pakistan are extremists, intolerant, unaccepting and support terrorism.“
Hassan, like others, said that the majority of Pakistanis aren’t extremists and “we hate terrorists just like everyone else does.”
And some wanted the world to know that Pakistan has bigger problems than terrorists
“The people of Pakistan suffer hugely from illiteracy corruption violence and poverty. Most people do back breaking work all day just to put food on the table for their families.“ said Rabia Sultan, a 30-year-old cardiologist from Karachi who currently lives in New York.
We also heard responses like “Americans have done enough” and “Stay out of our country.”
“What Americans don’t understand about Pakistan is getting their way always through powerful Pakistan military is not the best approach. Whenever they were in a spot the military helped them in working out a quick fix while the nation looked on disinterestedly. Ignoring the aspirations of throbbing nation of 180 million people for so long has wounded the Pakistani nation psyche irreparably and the military is no more all powerful due to self inflicted serious wounds. The strategy would have worked well for the Americans, had it been an insignificant state geopolitical in the deep of Africa. But underrating a vibrant nation of sixty percent youth had been a capital sin. Now the Americans are running between the threatening pillar of Pakistani nation and threatened Pakistan Military post to get their nuts out of the fire. Result is not difficult to imagine.”
~ Azhar Ali, 65, lives in Islamabad and is a retired professor.
“Not all of us want to kill you or rob you but a few of us might. We’re a land of paradoxes in so many ways that its almost farcical, a land of rebels and conformists, philanthropists and con artists, murderers and poets. Pakistan is the best and worst of humanity existing side by side ripping apart everything in the middle Most of us live in remote and disconnected villages and wouldn’t know Osama Bin Laden from Justin Bieber and are too hungry to care.
Time is not money in Pakistan its time, we have plenty of time but no money We all live in a state of permanent confusion, anarchy and fear, terrible things happen around us every day. Yet strangely enough we seem to bundle along and miraculously and almost stubbornly manage to retain some hope.”
~ Arsalan Khan, 24, lives in Karachi and is a University Student.
“I think Americans think that we are all stereotypes. They think that all the people in Pakistan are extremists, intolerant, unaccepting and support terrorism. I want to let them know that the general people in Pakistan live their lives as do people in United States. We love peace, we like freedom, we are terrified when there is a suicide blast, and we hate terrorists just like everyone else does. There is a particular group which believes in extremism and is intolerant towards other religions and cultures, but they are not in the majority.”
~ Syed Harris Hassan, 22, lives in Islamabad and is a University Student.
“The people of Pakistan suffer hugely from illiteracy corruption violence and poverty. Most people do back breaking work all day just to put food on the table for their families. They often live incredibly sad lives with great dignity. In spite of this religious fanaticism and mass violence in Pakistan did not find roots till the soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
I’d also like to remind people that a country that can barely feed its own people is the 5th largest army in the whole world . This is because for most of its existence Pakistan has been America’s military ally run by military dictators. If there hadn’t been this huge military collaboration then perhaps Pakistan would probably have a smaller military and better education and human rights today.”
~ Rabia Sultan, 30, was born in Karachi currently living in New York City, where she is a cardiologist in Brooklyn.
“Pakistanis have never voted for religious parties’ en masse at the most their vote bank is 4-6%, BUT 4-6% of 180 million are still a lot of people and when fraction of that segment turn up in streets to burn American flag, although it makes for good t.v, but it doesn’t really make the whole country nuts.
It’s a misnomer that Pakistan is an extremist country. It’s a country which has had the rule of one institution and one intuition only for the past 52 years. It has had facade of democratic governments but at NO POINT civilians made defense policy OR foreign policy or even economic policy. Whenever civilians have tried to take the reins, they have either been hanged, forced to exile or shot dead in broad-daylight.
Americans should also know that Pakistan doesn’t need to be an inherent beggar. It has enough agricultural growth, industrial infrastructure, natural resources and the human-material to stand on its own feet. Our tax to GDP ratio is at a meager 7%. Like the rest of the civilized world if its around 17-19%, it wont solve all our problems, but it will be a start. We currently don’t tax our biggest industry which is agriculture, if we start taxing just big farmers who are literally millionaires in American sense, PLUS we start taxing real estate (anything bigger than 1500 sq. yards), And bring the stock exchange earnings under tax bracket, we wont need IMF anymore. There is a corruption of at least a billion dollars every month at the top/governmental level. A big problem is economy and inflation which fans extremism. When people don’t have a job, no light at the end of the tunnel, brothers/sisters/parents blowing up in pieces either through a drone or by military gunship helicopter OR by a suicide bomber, world is a living hell, THEN paradise and 72 virgins sounds mighty fine. The rush is not to arrive in paradise; the rush is to check out from the hell that we have collectively created for them.
But here is the silver lining. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, majority of
Pakistanis (read punjabis) have come to this conclusion that there is no way forward for
Pakistan but civilian supremacy/democracy.”
~ Ahmer, 36, grew up in Karachi is now living in Pennsylvania and works as a Tech Consultant.
Source: HuffPost World
Posted by admin in PAKISTAN BRIGHT FUTURE on April 4th, 2013
After the departure of Gen. Musharraf and the tragic and sudden death of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, her husband, Asif Ali Zardari took the oath as the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and its 180 million citizens.
But due to his murky past as Mr. 10%, he immediately became an easy target for rumors and criticism and was soon referred to as an ‘Accidental President’ who would not survive long.
Whatever the reasons, the fact remains that a number of Ides of March have come and gone and despite a four year long campaign of Go Zardari Go, the man is still firmly entrenched in his Presidential Chair and in full control.After failing to remove the President through the media trial, his opponents decided to switch tactics and turned to the Supreme Court and used the NRO and the $60 million in the Swiss bank to remove him from his ivory tower.The SC ordered the government to write a letter to the Swiss bank and ask, as to whom the 60 million dollars belonged to. After months of stalling and deliberate delays by the government, the PM was finally hauled into court and given an ultimatum, either write the letter to the Swiss bank or face contempt of court chargesOnce again, the skills of The Survivor came into play. His loyal and obedient friend, Yousuf Raza Gilani, the 16th Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, in open defiance to the SC order, categorically stated that he was not a peon, but a PM and would not obey or implement the SC command and would rather face the gallows or jail, but would not betray his mentor.This had once again started another period of political uncertainty, which the nation had hoped would come to an end on 26th April, when the SC ordered the PM to present himself and explain why he should not be charged for contempt of court.Having failed to satisfy the 7 member bench, the PM was found ‘guilty as charged’, but instead of sending a loud and clear message to the nation, that everyone was accountable and no one was above the law, the SC sadly took a decision to punish the PM for just thirty seconds, which he accepted with a cynical smile.The 30-second punishment for the PM, who had challenged, humiliated and ridiculed the CJ, has sent the message that there was one law for the rich and powerful and another for the poor, suffering Awam. Such is the tragedy of this nation. The decision may have avoided a direct confrontation between the Executive and the Judiciary, but in its place, it has triggered a confrontation between the government and the opposition. And realizing the reluctance of the SC to take decisive action against his government, the PM has defiantly stated that no PPP PM will write the Swiss Bank letters.
The general perception in the Awam is that the right thing for the PM would be to respect and obey the SC orders or resign, but then, such is not the practice in this land of the Pak and the Pure and now the Go Zardari chant has turned to Go Gilani Go. The judgment has also triggered a political crisis that could lead to a major upheaval in the country, as the PM is neither ready to quit nor resign.NS, the leader of the ‘Friendly Opposition’ for four years, realizing that he could not depend on the SC to dismiss the PM, has now decided to launch a ‘Do or Die movement to dislodge the convicted PM and save democracy and the country’, and has threatened to start a long march.And Imran Khan, not to be left out, has announced that he will trigger a tsunami in Islamabad, while the PPP jialas have also threatened a long march to Raiwind, the sprawling home of NS.These open threats of simultaneous long marches and tsunamis to Islamabad and Raiwind, could lead to an unavoidable clash between the protestors, thus threatening the very survival of democracy in the country. Therefore, it would have been more prudent for both NS and IK, to wait for the full judgment, before announcing these marches and tsunamis.And while the turf war between the gang lords continues and Lyari burns, the turf war between the Legislators also continues and our Assemblies, like our TV Talk Shows, have become battlefields, with shouts and desk thumping.And if clashes between the government and the opposition take place, then the violence will not remain confined just to Islamabad, but would trigger violence in other cities also. And with the amount of fire arms displayed on both sides, it could trigger a civil war in the country. And once again, the writings of Khalil Gibran and his Pity the Nation, comes to mind: ‘Pity the nation whose people are sheep and whose shepherds mislead them – Pity the Nation that raises not its voice, save when it walks in a funeral – Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation’.
Hamid Maker. (Email: [email protected]).
Posted by admin in PAKISTAN BRIGHT FUTURE, Pakistan-A Nation of Hope on March 23rd, 2013
The importance of the coming elections cannot be overstated. Pakistan today stands on the point of implosion and the kind of leadership that is elected to take the country forward could make or break it.
My loyalties in this matter lie with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and I’m writing this to present my reasons for handing the party my vote and what I think you should expect tomorrow at Minar-e-Pakistan.
Internal democracy.
When a party is democratic then it is full of elected position holders. This means the leadership has integrity and mandate. More importantly it means they have more pressure to deliver because they would, in the future, have to fight for their position again. An elected leader has the power of command and respect which a nominated leader does not.
The leadership has declared their assets and uploaded the information to the party’s website.
Pakistan’s administration is full of corrupt, tax evaders. This gesture therefore is unique and very praiseworthy. Pakistanis are amongst the highest payers of charity and the country has one of the lowest tax to GDP ratios. This dissonance can only mean that people are not inspired to pay taxes because of a lack of trust. I don’t really blame the people either.
Who would pay their taxes when 70% of our parliamentarians do not themselves pay, and when no sign of efficient and productive use of tax payer’s money has been shown?
Detailed policy papers prior to election.
This again is, and was unprecedented in Pakistan. Calling an education emergency and trebling the budget for education were refreshing announcements. It was also heart-warming to hear policies on neglected issues such as the environment and disabled people.
Commitment to harmony and equality.
When the Ahmadi place of worship was attacked three years ago, Imran Khan visited the injured in the hospital and vowed to stand by the Ahmadis, protect them and end the power of the state to decide if certain sects could be counted as Muslim or not.
When the genocide against the Shia community began, the PTI leadership visited scholars and leaders of the Shia community to show solidarity. Imran Khan has also travelled to Quetta twice; once for a rally and more recently a month ago to openly condemn Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and show solidarity with the Hazara community.
A few days ago Khan visited Joseph Colony in Badami Bagh where hundreds of homes of Christians had been burnt by an angry mob. The PTI is the only party to stand by the defenceless minorities in Pakistan. Be their philosophy religious or ethnic.
Impressive personalities that are a part of the team.
Asad Umar resigned as chairman of Engro in April 2012 to join the PTI. Umar worked for Engro for 30 years and transformed the firm from a mere chemical company to a giant conglomerate. He left his position at Engro where he was the highest paid CEO in the country at a salary of almost Rs6 million a month – to work for the betterment of Pakistan with the PTI. In 2010 he received the Sitara-i-Imtiaz for his business achievements.
Another example is the appointment in May 2012 of Azeem Ibrahimas the strategic policy advisor. Ibrahim holds a PhD from Cambridge and has served as a scholar at Harvard and Yale. He was named as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2009 by the LSDP European Social Think Tank and has advised over half a dozen world leaders.
The counter-terrorism policy.
The PTI is the only party to comprehensively address the situation of terrorism in Pakistan and provide a solution. Eight years of military action have only succeeded in creating more militants because the root causes of the issue have never been looked at.
Disengaging from the US war on terror, hence ending the Jihad narrative used by the terrorists to recruit displaced and homeless tribal locals looking for revenge, will help isolate retaliating Pashtuns from hard core terrorists who would be eliminated by force. The PTI addresses the issue, identifies the complexities and elements involved and presents a solution. Its competition in this matter is non-existent.
Imran Khan and what’s to come tomorrow.
The best part of Khan’s life has been nothing short of selfless service to Pakistan. He chose this life of struggle over a life of luxury. His philanthropic works in addition to his sporting achievements makes very few Pakistani’s doubt his intentions, integrity and ability. In comparison we have criminals, corrupt officials and fundamentalists.
With the Tehreek-e-Insaf’s intra party elections taken care of and the organisation complete, it is time for a show of power.
PTI rally at Minar-e-Pakistan on March 23
I’m predicting the rally tomorrow to be one of the largest, if not the largest ever rally in the history of the country!
There will be people from every walk of life, every segment of society, every religion and every ethnicity Pakistan has to offer. The rally is going to be one of the rare moments that a true representation of Pakistan’s society will stand in unity and with purpose. Tomorrow is going to be the beginning of a short movement that will be remembered for ages as the tipping point of Pakistan’s politics. Tomorrow is going to be a day of pride, patriotism, optimism and most importantly hope. Tomorrow will give every Pakistani hope and maybe if nothing, that’s what the Tehreek-e-Insaf can offer you. The hope that it’s not too late, that you have the power to change everything and that Pakistan not only has a future, but a bright one.
The fourth week of March is a historic and spiritual time. The Persian New Year and the spring equinox both fall in this period. This is known as a time of new beginnings, where the cold dark sadness of winter ends and is replaced by the emergence of blossoming flowers and the sunlight of spring.
God-willing March 23, will be the beginning of the road towards a new Pakistan.
A Pakistan where we all feel safe, a Pakistan where we all feel proud and a Pakistan in which there will always be ‘insaf’. Let’s be optimistic and let’s have hope.
Let’s take Pakistan and go, as Shakespeare said,
“To unpathed waters, undreamed shores”.
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