Where you From' ... Arghhh Hmmmm Aaa ... 'Punjab', 'Dubai' ... and God Knows what else would one get as reply upon asking a lot of Overseas Pakistani Community if not every single individual. Is it identity crisis or some sort of dysmorphic disorder. Usually first generation Pakistanis come across those situations where news back home causes embarrassment on regular intervals. Whereas second generation is concerned, many times they simply refuse to accept work 'Pakistani' next to their identity. They were born this way hats off to Parent generation. As this is not a case for each and every individual, Overseas Pakistanis living in 'Wild-West' and in 'the States' are not the only community that goes through such emotions. More or less individuals from every community that can claim developing countries as their homeland go through such emotionally rough patch. However, since Pakistan has been 'darling of Western media' for quiet a while and western media being extremely fortunate as the fertile land of Pakistan, along with her agricultural produce, yields home grown terrorists regularly (although it is a curious case of America's national and international interest but we will discuss it some other day). Hence, Pakistanis being under magnifying glass internationally feel a little uncomfortable with paparazzi and prefer to be identified as X,Y,Z. There are various reasons for disassociating oneself from Pakistan. At the same time there are several reasons for associating oneself with Pakistan and enjoy proud moments for this beautiful yet under rated piece of Land and her people. We only going to consider 5 of them.
1) Only Nuclear Islamic State [Correction Applies]
1) History:
Pakistanis are not 64 years and few months old. May be it is a young country, however, as a piece of land, people and culture we are thousands of years old. If not competing with Egyptian Civilization then not a lot younger than it. Although many experts do compare it with Egyptian Civilization in age. Indeed i am pointing towards Indus valley Civilization mainly based on Northern parts of Sub-Continent i.e Current Pakistan and some parts of Present day India.
When an individual of Pakistani Diaspora denies his / her relationship with Pakistan, it is a clear denial of this great human historical aspect. Part reason is ignorance of ruling elite in Pakistan which has resulted in failed effort to glorify the historical aspects of Pakistan. It could be a major contributor of a Billion-Dollars tourism Industry in Pakistan, only if Mullahs state that Tourism is not Harram. But other part is sheer ignorance of individuals about world's history.
Another very important point I wanted to remind is historical route that Alexander the great followed as he entered in Sub-Continent. It also lies in present day Pakistan. The Kailash tribes in Chitral Valley, Pakistan are remains of Alexander's army. Interestingly not many countries and nations in this world can give such a colorful account of their history.
[ For more detailed insight in this topic writer encourages for further reading on these topics and states to the best of his knowledge that such readings are not 'Haram' ]
2) Culture:
The term culture here refers to a large set of traits, habits, features and landmarks. It refers to musical genius of Tanseen to Junoon, it refers to Taj-Mahal and other Mughal land marks, it refers Urdu a language reflecting beauty and expressions from Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Turche (Turkish) and God knows how many more langauages, it refers to a large number of regional languages, it refers to brave MahRaja Ranjit Singh's horse in Lahore fort, it refers to Data Gunj Buksh, Guru Nanuk and Khawaja Moeen uddin Chisti Ajmeri, it refers to writings of Karishan Chundar and Ishfaq Ahmed, it refers to Love stories of Sassi-Pannu, Heer-Ranjha and Saleem-Anarkali, It refers to Theatrical tradition as Nautanki (No no, come on guys ... definitely not refering to Nargis and Deedar for love of my life . . .), it refers to Galib and Dard, it refers to Sri-Paye, Balochi Sajji and Haiderabadi Biryani, it most certainly refers to our life style in villages and lassi, sakunjaveen and desi-daru. By the way, please do not forget Truck Art in Pakistan.
The culture of Pakistan is a beautiful amalgamation of so many different cultures. The culture of Sub-continent that we share with India and Bangladesh and it changes across the stretches of this huge piece of land. On top of this culture, there are traces of Persian, Turkish, Central Asian, Afghani and Arab culture in Pakistani culture. Pakistan is cultural link between Middle East and South Asia. It is a culture that would make any one proud, only if one knows.
[ Cultural study can be done in Look-Virsa musuem Islamabad, Pakistan. Please do not forget to buy discounted tickets specified for 'Pakistanis' ]
3) Geography:
The geography of Pakistan is diverse, beautiful, and worth traveling. Certainly it is very cheap for Pakistani Diaspora to visit Pakistan using their Euro, Pounds and Dollars. Balochistan is known as Switzerland of Asia. One can enjoy Safari in Cholistan, Bahawalpur. We have the point where three high mountain ranges meet (Himalayas, Karakorams and Hindu-kush). It is the point where Gilgit River joins the Indus River. One can travel from Karachi to Chitral, trust me, its breathtaking and sensational and worth it. Kashmir is another high point to visit Pakistan, as one does not need any visa to enter into Azad Kashmir from Pakistan. What one needs is a wish and determination to experience it and it will be one of the best experience of one life.
[Disclaimer : Please do plan your journey in advance and one should know where to go before hand and don't ask me why cos if you ask either you don't watch news or you want my phone number]
4) Charity:
Yes it is true Pakistanis are not the most keen people on the face of the earth to pay their taxes. Most probably Pakistanis are in top 5 Tax evaders in the world. However, Pakistanis most certainly are one of the biggest charity giving nation in the world. Shokat Khanum and Edhi Foundation are two really successful examples of many existing organizations serving Pakistanis. These Organizations operate on the simple principle of 'The organizations of Pakistanis, by Pakistanis, for Pakistanis'.
Shokat Khanum needs no introduction. A really unique concept in the world still operating and treating most of its cancer and other patients for free. Similarly, Edhi Foundation has been successfully supported by the nation for a long time. Abdul Sattar Edhi recently stated "We only take donations from Pakistan. Pakistanis give wholeheartedly. They give tens of thousands and they even don't take a receipt. They just walk in and give, this is a good country. It is just run by bad people".
Along with many other reasons why Pakistanis do not give taxes, most important is, if they know tax money will be spent on them instead of going into some politicians bank account, most probably many more Pakistanis will pay tax.
5) Sense of Humor :
My top reason is Sense of humor. Pakistanis are living nation (at least till the last updates) and they can laugh on themselves. Samajh tu Aap gaye hi hun gey.
[Discalimer: No individual of Pakistani Diaspora is harmed or injured during completion of this article.
The writer has written this blog after getting drunk with 'desi-daru', like most of other so-called desi intellectuals and if you do not agree with him then please ignore this article by considering it a 'Conspiracy Theory']
Conspiracy Theory © Nukt@ Shah 2012.
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