Anybody who was astonished at the pride, brotherhood and generosity of the people after the Kashmir earthquake never felt that he was one of them. The ordinary people were always like that but expressed it on all albeit small occasions. Why did they not do it more often at the national level? Because they were led to believe that they were still under colonial rule.
During the Independence movement, the vast majority of the elite – politicians, bureaucrats, media, intellectuals – were lukewarm towards the people’s demand for a homeland. When Pakistan did come into being, the elite did not let go the powers and privileges that they had acquired by being close to the colonial rulers.
If we are to become a proud and patriotic people, the elite must abandon their practices and policies of colonial period. They must remove the barriers that keep them aloof from the ordinary people.
Here are some suggestions for the elite, some symbolic, some fundamental:
a) Use the national langue in public. Also in interviews with the non-English foreign media. Use interpreters on formal occasions as a symbol of honor, even if you don’t need them. Avoid unnecessary use of English words. Be ashamed of yourself if your Urdu is not better than your English because being fluent in English does not make you a superior human being.
b) Wear the national dress in public, on all formal occasions, even abroad. The Arabs do it. So do the Africans. If you wear a three-piece suit, the former gora sahib (white colonial) will still treat you only as an obsequious subject, not as an equal. So, why bother? Drop waistcoat and sherwani to bring your official dress closer to that of the common people.
c) Teach English only to those who need it. Stop pretending that all 150 millions of us want to become scientists and technologists, have international relations or intend to study or work abroad. Despite a century and a half of trying, only about 10% (or 15 millions) people actually manage to learn acceptable English. Why make life miserable for the remaining 90%?
d) Teach every subject in schools and colleges in the national language because nobody can learn properly through a foreign language. (How many of us can study the Holy Qur’an through Arabic alone, when we are Muslims?) Add the glossary of equivalent English terms at the end of Urdu textbooks for those who may later need them. The quality of education depends on teaching and school standards, not on the use of a foreign language as a medium.
e) Ban O and A Level examinations. Then the parents, who prefer these examinations for their children, will work to improve the educational standards of the whole country. These British examinations were not a craze even during the colonial rule, or for several decades afterwards. Rather than humiliate yourselves before the former colonial masters, improve our own educational institutions.
f) Use the national language for all official purposes. Don’t be like Brahmins, who use Sanskrit to remain aloof from the masses. English terms may continue to be inserted in official correspondence until all bureaucrats become familiar with the Urdu equivalents. Where immediate switchover is difficult, the use of English may continue for some time.
g) Never denigrate your country. If you are good, your family is good, your friends and relatives are also good, how come everybody else is not? After all, the country is only your extended family.
h) Do not create inferiority complex by comparing us with countries that are ahead. Compare our present status with that of our own 10, 30 or 60 years ago. If our today continues to be better than our yesterday, we shall find ourselves in the top tier in due course.
i) Take pride in your culture. Appreciate your heritage, values, arts, music, architecture, literature, food, dress. Everything that comes from the West is not better by definition. Don’t prefer foreign heroes and role models to your own.
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