Divided we Fall

Despite “unity, faith, discipline” being our national motto, despite “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black has any superiority over a white- except by piety and good action” being the teachings of our religion; we are as divided as much as possible. Abraham Lincoln said “A house divided against itself cannot stand”; that is exactly what is happening to our nation- or should I call country? we are not only following discrimination but also promoting and supporting it- and at every point, stage in fact our daily routine.

We need to stop forwarding messages which keep on reminding what cast we belong to and what is our status in the society, accordingly. Honestly, that has been my only source of knowing the cast ranking in Pakistan of “who is better”. We laugh and forward all such messages because we agree to them to a certain extent. I have always heard that memons and sheikhs are filthy rich who would not spend a coin on even themselves. Did you know Abdul Sattar Edhi is a Memon?

Discrimination has grown into our community to an extent that we often base our decisions of marriage on this basis. The most recent example can be taken from the relief camps; people are being served on the basis of ethnic group they belong to. If you are a gypsy you would not be served any food.  “People call us ‘unclean’ and accuse us of being thieves. We have camped by the road because we know other flood victims may not like us to live near them in the camps,” said a gypsy Bala Din (No reflief from discrimination, Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2010)

We forward the funny Pathan jokes proving that Pathans are not mentally as capable as Punjabis, Sindhis or Balochis when we do not have a single valid argument to prove it. Pashto is among the most difficult languages in the world this is actually a support argument to their mental skills being ‘sharp’. All apart, we do not hesitate in forwarding messages against Pakistan e.g. Pakistan in 2020, energy sources at the country and so on. It is our homeland; it’s the place which has given us an identity, shelter, a sense of belonging and we have absolutely no right of saying anything against Pakistan as we are its culprits- all wrong done to it has been brought by Pakistanis.

What to talk about the goras and the foreign sources; when we are busy deciding which superior group is going to represent us, which groups would benefit and which will not. These are minor things that make a lot difference. We need to understand that we are Pakistani, the perfect being someone who belongs to Pakistan. If instead we circulate texts on what wonders united Pakistan can do or what a can Pakistani do, we will at least be carrying a good image of our country and country man in our minds. We have people like Aisam-ul-haq (tennis player) to celebrate, Ali Moeen Nawazish (Academic high achiever) to talk about and many others. If you find it hard coming up with some interesting message with such motive, I will leave you with one.

“Abdul Sattar Edhi was travelling with his wife, Bilquis Edhi, when some dacoits hijacked their ambulance. On finding out that the person they had just captured is Edhi; they gave them money and left saying ‘we are sorry, May you prosper in your cause. We know that you are going to cloth and burry our unclaimed dead bodies”