Whats in a Name!

What the hell is wrong with Pakistan? No, I have not been forced to ask this because of any specific event or group of events, this is a question that has dominated the mind of every thinking Pakistani for a long time. Even before we were hurled into the throes of terrorism, long before we became the reluctant partners in a never ending war against an invisible enemy and before we became a state always on the threshold of failure, one could always see that there was something seriously wrong with this state.

I don’t believe that we have been the victims of any extraordinary catastrophe perpetrated by foreign elements that has caused our continuous downfall into this abyss. We have the unusual distinction of being a state that never recovered from its creation. Yes, I know that the creation of Pakistan was not some tragedy that we had to recover from, but we made sure that it appeared to be more and more of a tragedy as years passed.

The people of Pakistan, especially those of Punjab, have historically been wonderful slaves, but never masters, not even of our own destiny. We have acquired the habits of following without questioning, stabbing our brothers in the back to gain the approval of our Lords, going to unheard of extremes to prove our loyalties to whoever rules us and linking our success and failure to the extent to which we can please or (God forbid) annoy our masters. 

The exodus of gora saabs from India left a gaping vacuum above us slaves, which we were supposed to rise and fill. Unfortunately, we never proved up to the task. Instead, we began our so-called independent existence appearing confused and scared and soon began looking for new masters to fill in this vacuum. America eventually obliged and now we are a nation that has lost its identity, is fighting wars against its own people, has strained relations with all its neighbours (including the Muslim brothers) and where the President and the top military brass has gone (for the umpteenth time) to USA to discuss sensitive security issues (read get fresh orders).

It is about time that we took a keener look at our history and developed the courage to face the demons in our closets. We have to admit our mistakes, accept our weaknesses and then attempt to rise above these petty attitudes and start on our way to becoming a nation.

Our common educated man (of which there are pathetically few, but enough) must be aware of the problems our nation faces and the history of how we ourselves created them. Even a basic knowledge could provide food for thought and I am sure we will eventually come up with better and workable ideas to get out of this mess.

The North Western Frontier Province and the threat of Talibanization and terrorism are all too obvious. I want to point to another issue that is far less threatening and far simpler. I am no expert on the subject but I don’t understand all the fuss about changing the name of the province. I mean, what’s wrong with it? Why not change it to Pakhtoonistan or whatever the residents of the area want? Seriously, N.W.F.P. is not even a name. As far as I know Punjab means the land of the five rivers, Balochistan means the land of the Balochs and Sind probably (though I am not sure) is named after the river Indus. What does N.W.F.P. mean? It means the province that is in the North-West of the country and on its border. In Urdu, it is called Sarhad which simply means boundary. I want all readers to think seriously, is that even a name? It is at best an address. How would anyone of you want to be named ‘the second child of Mr. so-and-so who lives in F-10?’ I think the government must accept their demand, which is not for a change of name but more for a name instead of an address.

We are not four provinces. We are one country. National integration demands some empathy for each other’s issues. And this name game is as good a place to start as any. It does not threaten our national security or survival and as far as I can tell, changing the name would not even be a burden on our economy. So why the fuss? We have no competitor when it comes to bugging our provinces to unbelievable extents. We’ve lost half the country with this sort of behaviour. It has to stop. We have to stop looking at NWFP or Balochistan as a threat to this country and start considering them a part of this country.