The Bravest Nation of the World - Pakistan

Air crash, violence, corruption, target killings, Super flood, and what not …. The general sentiment prevailing among our youth nowadays is “What is POSITIVE about Pakistan ? Every day there is a bad news coming. We guess Pakistan is now really failed.”


Look into your hearts and remember when was the last time you failed miserably in some important stage in life… You and everyone related to you could just figure out you could not go ahead because you had FAILED… But as the time passed , you carried on and here you are still working, even progressing and have further future plans.

Its a popular saying that you never FAIL until you THINK so ....

Then, why a big STATE like Pakistan can be FAILED ?… There is nothing like a FAILED STATE in the world.. If one could gather that the term FAILED STATE was coined only for Pakistan, especially after the SWAT crisis in 2007 in some media reports… Its only we , who are carrying this as a guilty feeling, otherwise if you see things POSITIVELY , then the world is actually observing this in awe and envies our braveness and the ways of survival. Some of the reports of our bravest behaviour are :

Locals use stones, sandbags to stave off flood http://tinyurl.com/36tyhb3 

Donkeys come to the rescue in Pakistan floods http://tinyurl.com/3557uv5

Death visits relief camps for flood victims http://tinyurl.com/38m9bcl

Flood victims help each other to cross a damaged railway http://tinyurl.com/3ym3cve 

The world is also watching and has not turned back on us .. No doubt, it has taken a little more time to gauge the magnitutde of the destruction, but now the aid is flowing in and people, including various celebrities are raising voices to help this nation in peril.

Recently Newsweek has called us as the BRAVEST nation of the World !!!

Now, the rest lies on us, the people of Pakistan… Its time to leave behind the losses and pain of this massive disaster of our history….and start REBUILDING…

We just cannot sit idle and hopeless at the bank of rivers watching the washed away fertile soils and lands and lost homes.. There are humans left who need our help and encouragement. A huge responsibility lies on the urban society, mostly unaffected by he floods, to come forward, raise hope for future among the flood affectees.

The HELP criteria may be advertised and publicized by the word of mouth, even in the areas known for any terrorist breeding or such culture. Especially very young boys can be motivated to help rebuilding their own towns, to disengage them from questionable activities.

Remember, this is a great lesson of unity, sacrifice and hope for us and we have no choice except to learn from it.

Lets change ourselves forever … and start from our homes cutting down our unnecessary expenditures, showing off wealth and luxuries, living a simple life and setting an example for our children… They are the ones who will reap the fruits of our efforts and then pass on the tradition to the next generations…

That is the way, PAKISTAN will always be a SUCCESSFUL state.. May Allah help and guide us. Amen

Ridicule, Protests & Our Self-Respect

Why would Someone ridicule us and our beliefs?  

 It has been a tradition that when somebody ridicules us, we just start blaming ourselves,  our system, our lack of unity, our bad morals,  lack of belief in religion and all the evils in our society….. only making our enemy’s work easier !!!

Do we even realize that whoever ridicules us, is merely a dreamer, an inactive coward, someone who knows his lack of strength to take any physical action against us.

How Come Iqbal Knew All of it in the Last Century?

 Iqbal’s concept of “KHUDI” (Self-Respect)  is an amazing phenomenon to deal with such situation for present day Muslims.

خودی کو کر بلند اتنا کہ  ہر تقدیر سے  پہلے .. خدا بندے سے خود پوچھے بتا تیری رضا کیا ہے

 KHUDI is seen by him as an elevator for human spirit so much so that they can even decide their fate through its best utilization…. Khudi or Self-Respect is what we are lacking today. We generalize ourselves as a morally bankrupt nation and always have countless examples on our fingertips to prove that.

Let me ask one simple question… Who has given this right to berate ourselves? [ Isn’t it us only?] … Each one of us has a duty to be a good citizen  and when we don’t fulfill that duty, why do we think that every other being is like us too?

Time To Decide:

 WE have to decide now that “ Do we respect ourselves , as mentioned in the words of Iqbal”? …. Because if we don’t , then we will have to accept what others say about us and do to us.

The pictures, cartoons and insulting remarks are increasing day by day , only because we are getting used to them…. AND that is where lurks the real danger !!!

Time to Be United :

An immediate action can be CONDEMNING any such hurtful act, which is against our religious beliefs peacefully. We can give them an impression that nobody believes them and make them believe that they are wasting their time and effort to berate us…

SHOW OUR SELF-RESPECT !!!!

But, we need to do this  as a unified force. We should neither deviate from our focus (i.e.,condemning them) nor getting into petty issues (i.e., our own lackings)… because this is what they want us to indulge in.

The real strength is shown in UNITY … and in this case, ONLINE UNITY !!!!

 Use their own weapon to fight them back !!!!!

As in the words of Iqbal :

ایک ہوں مسلم حرم کی پاسبانی کے لئے ... نیل کے ساحل سے لیکر تا بہ خاک کاشغر  

Where We Went Wrong? - The Leadership Crisis in Pakistan

 ( Image Courtesy : Pakistaniat.com)

“The leadership of Pakistan needs to stop dithering and provide the reason for the people of Pakistan to have confidence in the democratic process. Military might on its own is not sufficient to eradicate extremism from the country. The civil government has to provide its support in alleviating the miseries of people through proper governance, sound policies and jump-starting the economy.” [A Leadership Crisis in Pakistan ~ The Nation, Dec 01, 2009]

These are the words we see in the editorials of various newspapers of Pakistan more or less everyday. The words of Extremism or Terrorism are spoken as the hallmark of this 63 year old country, which was created in the name of Islam or Peace.

We have been through such a lot that now no one even wants to sit and think about what went wrong and where. However, out of all the suffering and misery we should think beyond that and  try to come up with a reason for hope, peace and well-being of people.

Lack of VISION :

Nobody can deny that the root of all such problems is nothing but a lack of vision and foresight among the most influential people of the country. Keeping in mind the fact that we have a very educated parliament, what is the reason for this lack of vision?

Actually, its not the fault of our elected MNAs or MPAs, as many of them have been associated with different political / religious groups, which have hardly carried out or made use of any significant research on the present or future structure of the society. The extremism prevalent in our society is one of the consequences of this lack of vision or self centered attitude of our leaders. If such an attitude continues, God knows, what other big miseries will be in store for us.

It is becoming evident with each passing day, that many of our highly qualified youth, either leave the country for a better future or are brain washed and used for some other motives by ill wishers of this land, already in a fragile state.

Global Vision:

On the other hand, the international economic trends are in our favor, as Asian countries are beginning to experience the economic shift to become global powerhouses. The issues of extremism and backward infrastructure are posing an immense threat to this futuristic phenomenon to make inroads in our society.

People of Pakistan have great potential in terms of understanding, caring, sharing and settling the issues themselves. Just because of this lack of foresight on the part of their leadership, the whole nation is being labelled as suspects or terrorists. It is also undermining the real potential of our most talented youth. The age of feudalism has long gone. The age of information and communication is here. We should make its maximum use for bringing up the practical solutions to our everyday problems.

What is needed now?

A large chunk of Pakistani peoples has been deprived of quality and affordable education, resulting in the  rise of extremism and pessimism about the fate of this country. A sense of belonging and hope needs to be awakened.

What can be done from now, is to provide QUALITY EDUCATION , making it compulsory and a clear VISION for future with a constructive and positive approach. Give them education with a purpose and they will emerge with the treasures that could never be dreamed of. Being educated will make them stand on their own feet, make their own living and never to beg or rely on false promises by self interested elements.

We need new leaders who don’t create followers but more leaders at all levels. The new leaders will be passionate about the VISION of their homeland. There will be clear, concise communication about the vision of a BETTER PAKISTAN ardently delivered which could ignite people of Pakistan to a cause above themselves. That is what we should look forward to and work for…May Allah help and guide us. Ameen ! PAKISTAN ZINDABAD !!!

PAKISTAN GO GREEN ... A tale of passion ...

-->

Better late than never, I finally tried my hand on something which has taken all my net friends by storm...Blogging ! Well here I am, and of course, with something that has changed not only my life, but many of my friends' lives for ever.....PAKISTAN GOGREEN Campaign (2009). By the grace of Allah, this has proved to be one of the most successful campaigns on the net for Pakistanis. It has created awareness and the sense of belonging among Pakistani netizens, by changing their display pics into green with Pakistani flag.

How PAKISTAN GO GREEN Started?
Dear friends, it started with a simple idea to have an identical symbolic display for the Independence Day of Pakistan on 14th August, 2009 by a talented and creative Pakistani, Farhan Masood who, despite knowing the difficult nature of this job of changing the display pics of thousands of people, initiated the work, and asked for help from other graphic designers after doing nearly 800 pics himself in a few days. It was amazing to see dozens of talented graphic designers volunteering to join the cause.

The number of requests was huge making everyone realise that this work needed to be more organised. Pakiology.com started uploads of pics. I came up with the idea of having a facebook fan page .  TALAL MASOOD created a website www.gogreenpakistan.com to have a significant presence on the web. The purpose was to keep everyone updated about the work being done by this "Green Team" of approximately 30 members.

On 14th August, 2009, the hardworking designers finally touched the number of 10,000 display pics turned green, in only 22 days. Now the number is 28,000+.

Our Supporters:
It was not only about making pics green, there were many people who supported this campaign to reach much greater number of people. The most notable people were Dr Awab Alvi, Faisal Qureshi, Naveen Naqvi, Faisal Kapadia, Sana Saleem, Jehan Ara, Sarfaraz M Khan, Shoaib Taimur, Tajdar O Chowdhury, Maria Memon and countless others who wrote blogs / explained the details of the whole exercise on other media.

Doubts:

We have a history of people who misused the trust of their fellow citizens, so it was natural, that there were some doubts / reservations in some minds about Go Green too. Some people raised the question was this all necessary? Cant we use the same efforts and energy for some practical work like helping the poor or underprivileged classes of society? Later, there were some doubts about the privacy of pictures submitted for change. The pics are deleted just after the change made in them, and are never used for any other purposes. However, people have an option to not to submit pics but only their names can be shown.
Dear friends, please let me say here, we have started a NEW WAY OF THINKING... OF BEING POSITIVE...Its the THINKING that makes people aware of their needs and duties. We, in Pakistan, need to think first, WHAT is needed to be done and HOW? We need to have an independent THINK TANK culture, where the most talented and experienced citizens contribute their ideas, vision and solutions to problems. We have to start ACTING , but on some pre-set rules, based on extensive research and findings.

Now many individuals and groups are coming up with the messages of hope and Positivity. We are proud to have lit up the candle and the message is spreading much faster than we ever expected.

DID IT START A CENTURY AGO?
If one remembers the history in early 1900s, it were the poets / litterati of Muslims who first started to bring up the issues to the masses silently. The real aggressive movement started after 1909, when first time ppl openly opposed Minto-Morley reforms.. but before that it took 10 years to prepare ppl to even think against their foreign rulers..Please remember, to make strong foundations of any revolution, we have to be patient, prepare and come out with a strong base..
Is it a coincidence that exactly after 100 years, some sincere, honest and hardworking citizens have taken up the cause of reviving the spirit of Patriotism and love of their fellowbeings?
Our forefathers sacrificed their lives and loved ones, just to give a secure future to us. Sometimes it happens in history that some ppl stand up and fight for a cause madly.. and that creates a free country like Pakistan.

I being grand daughter of one of those freedom fighters , can see the same spirit and passion here too. I believe that there are QuaideAzam , Allama Iqbal & all other great leaders in every generation. Just we need to identify them and make them realise their potential & duty.

Why cant we be POSITIVE like Sir Syed, Hasrat Mohani, Zafar Ali Khan, Nawab Salimullah, M Ali Johar, Shaukat Ali, Allama Iqbal, Quaid e Azam? Why do we always have to tell our youth that they are useless and will be beggars one day?
Being POSITIVE is the key to any revolution..AND we believe that Allah helps only those who help themselves.......
Lets start this revolution with the best of intentions ..
Lets make PAKISTAN GO GREEN a symbol of CHANGE FOR THE BETTER !!!

We request you to please join us, invite your friends, guide us and share with us your experiences, if we go wrong anywhere..and help us grow in order to fulfill the dreams of the creators of Pakistan.

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD !!!!