While going through my Pakistan Studies textbook today few sentences caught my attention; those few sentences which I have been rote learning since grade one. But today they looked really different to me as if it’s my first time reading them. It felt really hard understanding them. The paragraph was about why we wanted a separate homeland? What was the ideology of Pakistan?

My text book answered these questions by saying “The definition of Pakistan’s ideology is that Muslims should have a state where they have the opportunity to live according to their faith and Islamic principles. They should have all the resources at their disposal to enhance Islamic culture and civilization because this was the sole purpose of demanding a separate homeland for the Muslims”. After reading these lines, a few questions arose in my mind.

Is that really so? After getting a piece of land, which we proudly call a state, have we really used it for its intended purpose? Are we living according to our faith and creed?

We wanted a separate homeland to have Islamic democratic system where everyone would be  equal and no one would enjoy a privileged position on the basis of social status, color and creed. However, all one see is that rich people are above law and poor people suffer in jails even for a small crime. Social status is still considered the most important thing in Pakistan.

People would look at your appearance first before checking what’s in your heart and mind. Fair skin is still considered to be a superior quality, and people with dark complexion . If you don’t belong to a high rank caste it’s obvious you’ll be looked down. Ethics have no longer any impression. All that matters is how your appearance look, what are you wearing, and what is your last name.

If you don’t belong to the religion of Islam you won’t have rank of equality. You are just someone who cleans the roads and public toilets. You’ll be forced to live that life and call yourself “Bhangi” or “Gattr Saaf Karne Wala” which is despicable.

Before separation from India, there were only Muslims and Hindus, Hindus had the class differences but Muslims were just Muslims. Now, one doesn’t see any Muslims in Pakistan any more. All one can see are Sunni, Shia, Barelvi, Deobandi, and Salafis, who all claim that their way of preaching is only the right way and consider others as non-Muslims. They are all ready to fight and kill eachother.

Before separation, Muslims were afraid that the Muslim identity and image was in jeopardy. They felt it’s important to have a separate homeland for Muslims. However, after 69 years of freedom it’s still in danger.

Muslims were afraid that they would merge in Hindu Culture and Society. Muslim culture and civilization would be erased. However, after living 69 years away from Hindus, the signs of Hindu culture and norms are still found in Pakistan.

Our social functions and celebrations are highly inspired from Indians. Our language has lost its essence. It’s not about being against Indians or their culture and civilizations, it’s about asserting that we should own what we have and we should stick to it. Most of our dressing is either westernized or is inspired from neighboring country.

Pakistan was made to build a fair economic system, based on Islamic principles which won’t permit the concentration of wealth in few hands. At first, everything started happening as it was planned, the concept of justice and equality was kept in sight while taking any decision.

But as the time passed, everything started falling apart. In time, western system was adopted as an economic model for Pakistan, a system that has failed to provide a just economic order.

The country is under debt since ages, the government is borrowing recklessly an illegitimate amount of international loans. According to last year’s survey every Pakistani now owes a debt of about Rs: 101,33.

Millions of people sacrificed their everything for Pakistan. They migrated to Pakistan bare-handed. However looking at the current situation of the country, it seems like their sacrifices went in vain.

However, it’s still not that late. If we could just do our little parts, it might take some time but I swear it would be worth it. The lecture time is over. It’s about time we worked hard for the betterment of Pakistan. Let’s all become one and make it Jinnah’s Pakistan.