Pondering on the Independence Day of Pakistan ( Azadi Mubarak)!

Introduction to Pakistan: A Class for Korean School Children

This years, we will celebrate the 64th Independence Day of Pakistan today and so I would like to wish all Pakistanies "Jashne Azadee Mubarak"!

On a positive note, I still have belief and hope that we will get through these tough times which are our own doing - we should not blame anybody for what is happening in Pakistan and with Pakistan. WE are solely responsible and to admit a mistake and to learn from it is in itself a new beginning.


At the age of 60 (or plus )  people retire or think of retiring but in the history of nations I would say, it is about time to consider coming-of-age. (Coming of age is a very important ceremony held at a mass scale in Confucian countries in East, Northeast and Southeast Asia. All high school students perform these ceremonies and it is thought that they will be more responsible. Coming - of - age signifies transition from childhood to adulthood).

Here I will refer to a book review by Dr. Hoodbhoy of  "Can Pakistan Work? A Country in Search of Itself" by Stephen Philip Cohen (2004). Though this book and the book review were published in 2004, it seems that it was written yesterday and not  7 years ago. Anyhow, he writes:

“Jinnah's Pakistan has grown weaker, more authoritarian, and increasingly theocratic. Now set to become the world's fourth most populous nation, it is all of several things: a client state of the United States yet deeply resentful of it; a breeding ground for jihad and al Qaeda as well as a key U.S. ally in the fight against international terrorism; an economy and society run for the benefit of Pakistan's warrior class, yet with a relatively free and feisty press; a country where education and science refuse to flourish but which is nevertheless a declared nuclear power; and an inward-looking society that is manifestly intolerant of minorities but that has never seen anything like the state-organized pogroms of India, Afghanistan, Iran, or China.”

Years down the lane, Pakistan – has suffered mainly due to its political leadership, wrong decisions and self vested interests. Things would have been different if we had stuck to what Mohammad Ali Jinnah - the father of the nation – in his first address at the meeting of Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947 said:

“You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed; that has nothing to do with the business of the State. . . . We are starting with this fundamental principle that we are all citizens and equal citizens of one State.”

I will quote another author who said that "Pakistan has gone from a 'nation' searching for a country to a country searching for a nation".

It is about time that we focus on nationhood, on unity, on faith and descipline!

List of National Independence Days from around the world is here and those who got independence in the month of August include:

Afghanistan
Benin
Bolivia
Burkina Faso
Central African Republic
Colombia
Cote d'Ivoire
Ecuador
Estonia

Gabon

India

Indonesia

Jamaica
Korea (South)

Kyrgyzistan

Malaysia

Moldova

Niger

Pakistan

Singapore

Switzerland

Trinidad and Tobago

Ukraine

Uruguay

Hence Happy Independence Day to all of them!!