23rd March; Let’s Celebrate, shall we??

23rd March (Pakistan Day) always reminds me of something, to me, it is a day of false promises (Day of Betrayal), and those were made in 1940s and thrown in dustbin. Today’s Dawn article written by Dr Pervez Hoodbhoy raises interesting questions; he writes “PAKISTAN is not a nation although it has been a state since 1947. Missing is a strong common identity, mental makeup, shared sense of history and common goals. The failure to effectively integrate flows from inequalities of wealth and opportunity, absence of effective democracy and a dysfunctional legal system”. He simply does not criticize but offers interesting solution. To him for Pakistan to succeed “it must want to become a normal nation held together by mutual interests rather than abstract ideologies. This is the only way to deal with the multiple civil wars that have started around us”. Lastly he raises an interesting question, it makes me wonder whenever I see politically and socially illiterate people labeled as educated, I fail to find out the reasons. I never knew that such apolitical and naive educated class suits State and to sustain abstract Pakistani ideology. Pervez explains well, to him “Schools teach children to mindlessly obey authority, to look to the past for solutions to today’s problems, and to be intolerant of the religion, culture and language of others. Instead, we need to teach them to be enquiring, open-minded, creative, logical, socially responsible and appreciative of diversity”.