Gloom & Doom

SEPTEMBER 1997 - Across the line that divides Pakistan society, urban or rural, poor or rich, there is a growing disenchantment with the way things are and disturbing pessimism about the way things will be in the future. The desire to move on, break away or get out used to be associated with the younger lot. Now, both young and old are disillusioned and dismayed with all that Pakistan could have been and is not. A sad shake of the head and a barrage of abuse directed at the corrupt, hopeless system is common stuff. Migration is no longer confined to the back waters of Mirpur or remote parts of the Frontier. Today, it is an active pursuit across the country and more and more people are opting for it because they see no hope here. The promise of a better life is tempting and the lure reaches out to poor and rich alike. Not everyone can afford Canada but just about everyone is weighing the option with more than a casual glance. On its fiftieth birthday, things don’t look too good in the second state founded on religious basis.

These thoughts are reaffirmed with substantial proof by the survey on the state of the state that The News has conducted recently amongst 1826 respondents. It is a chilling document looked at from whichever side of the divide you are on. The poll reveals that only 5 % are optimistic about our future which is as frightening a statistic as you could ever imagine. 70 % have no clue what has been our most significant achievement and just about everyone is sure their very survival is now under serious threat. The usual bogeys of Western culture invasion, erosion of Islamic values and other such public manipulation tools find little response in people. It is now a question of facing the heavily one-sided odds and staying alive. Somehow. Pakistanis are convinced that sectarianism will rise as will lawlessness. Roads will be further eroded, there will be little or no water or power for the people, sanitation standards poor as they are today, will slip further, health services will continue to slide and infant mortality, malnourishment and maternal deaths, multiply. In other words, in the next century, poverty, deprivation, unemployment and division will be the four curses that will hang around our necks like Coleridge’s Albatross.

Of matters other than mere survival, a third of all interviewed said meeting people was their choicest hobby, not as one might have imagined, reading books or listening to music. In fact almost half of those surveyed did not read books and the largest number, 20 % who did, read Islamic books which undoubtedly includes the Quran. Just one percent read comedies which explains why everyone here is always scowling and in a bad mood. 48 % had absolutely no interest in any game and another 23 % only liked to watch. A healthy, fun loving nation if ever there was one. Hockey and football between the two polled 7 % who liked to watch it. An even lower figure covered those who liked to play. Cricket did better with one third preferring to watch it but the picture that emerges is of a nation marooned in its own quagmire and sinking without a trace.

Of course statistics can be and often are, misleading. However, it does not need a survey to determine the growing despondency and the belief that nothing right can happen here. People are convinced that nothing will work. Most have unlimited reservoirs of stories where perfectly straightforward jobs ran into the most confounding , complicated and baffling series of difficulties, particularly where government departments and officials are even remotely involved. It is no secret that officials have determined their role on this earth, which is never to let anything get done. A simple letter on the most inane matter will take months if not years to get signed by a series of little gray men who will not finish the job. The ‘concerned’ official or department is never, ever concerned just as the government servant is no servant by the wildest stretch of the imagination. No work can be done without greasing entire bodies, since palms are too small these days. Wherever the poor Paki wanders, he runs into someone waiting to shaft him. It is not surprising that level of cynicism and disgust has risen higher and higher as the years have rolled by.

Migrating to pastures however green they may be, is a step that causes heartbreak, not necessarily rightaway but perhaps years later when it is too late to abandon that alien life and just as late to resume the one left behind years ago. Only those who are put to the test know the agony of being separated from their country but can anyone truly blame the exodus of thousands locking abroad rather than staying on in a land from which they have no hope ? There are no answers.