The flip side

Published March 24, 2017
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

YESTERDAY marked the 77th anniversary of the Lahore Resolution (incorrectly known as the Pakistan Resolution in our textbooks). This great occasion was commemorated by a great demonstration of our ‘power’ — with a little help from our Chinese and Saudi friends. I can only imagine that it looked great on television; the residents of Islamabad and Rawalpindi were a little less enamoured.

It is said that nations are made great by the sacrifices of their people. The people of the twin cities not only spent March 23 navigating road blocks and being subjected to invasive questioning bordering on harassment and the downing of communication networks — we were also subjected to the same on Sunday’s and Tuesday’s ‘dress rehearsals’ for the big day.

I admit I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder when it comes to authority. But there isn’t that much difference between myself and the ordinary mass of people who cower in the face of power. We are all unconvinced that this land of the pure is really as great as it claims to be, but there are just few of us willing to ask fundamental questions about it.


Can we talk about the ‘not great’ parts of our nation’s story?


The above example is on the trivial side. There are many more, of a far more serious nature, that play out every day across the length and breadth of this ‘great nation’. The tales my friends from places as diverse as Parachinar, Turbat, Okara, Rahim Yar Khan, Gilgit and Hyderabad narrate, about how ‘greatness’ manifests itself to poor and politically voiceless Pakistanis — who, by any account, constitute the vast majority of this country’s population — are hair-raising.

My experiences with ‘greatness’ are themselves plentiful. While travelling from Dera Bugti town to Sui more than a decade ago, all of us passengers were pulled out of the Suzuki we were riding in by state personnel on three occasions during the 25km long journey. We were all made to feel fear, but the genuinely ‘great’ treatment was reserved for local commuters. They were made to grovel only as ‘sons of the soil’ do.

More recently, I was again travelling on public transport on the day of the PSL Final from Toba Tek Singh to Faisalabad. The bus was stopped at a checkpost at the entry point to Faisalabad city, and a handful of the meekest passengers on board were subjected to a humiliating grilling. One youngish man, clearly from a working-class background, was thrown off the bus for no reason other than that he was so pitiful he could not conform to the standards of ‘greatness’ expected of us all.

I don’t know about you, but I have never really got my head around this ‘great nation’ business. Every state in the world claims to be the culmination of a national consciousness that can be traced back to time immemorial, and ultimately all of them derive their sense of ‘greatness’ vis-a-vis some mythical ‘other’ that necessarily challenges their existence.

So, as far as their own populations go, India is great, America is great, China is great, Israel is great, Pakistan is great and on it goes. Is there any country in the world that isn’t great? Presumably not. Which begs the question: where, in this story, does all the stuff that is ‘not great’ disappear to?

I can’t provide exhaustive evidence of what happens in most other countries, but I am sure it is not all that different from what happens here. The ‘nation’ is great, and the uniformed state personnel have an exclusive mandate to define and defend it. The majority of the nation’s constituents toil to keep themselves alive, slaving away to sustain the living standards of the rich and powerful. Along the way, they suffer untold humiliation.

Which then takes me to the next logical question: what is the point of maintaining the ‘great’ nation if so many of its people spend most of their time existing in a ‘not-great’ state? A crass, right-wing populist like Trump put his finger on this existential question (in white majoritarian terms) and provided the answer.

America was great, but has slipped from its pedestal in the sense that its (white) population is in terminal decline. It is thus time to ‘make America great again’. But Trump doesn’t have a hope in hell of rescuing white working-class Americans from capitalist globalisation and will, therefore, continue to offer xenophobia as the answer to all their problems.

We haven’t even gotten to the point where we speak of ourselves as anything less than great. Those who dare to talk about the ‘not-great’ parts of the story are decried as traitors. Moral of the story: the wellbeing of ordinary Pakistanis, whose labour makes society tick, is immaterial so long as we continue to chant ‘long live Pakistan’.

The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017

Opinion

Editorial

‘Source of terror’
Updated 29 Mar, 2024

‘Source of terror’

It is clear that going after militant groups inside Afghanistan unilaterally presents its own set of difficulties.
Chipping in
29 Mar, 2024

Chipping in

FEDERAL infrastructure development schemes are located in the provinces. Most such projects — for instance,...
Toxic emitters
29 Mar, 2024

Toxic emitters

IT is concerning to note that dozens of industries have been violating environmental laws in and around Islamabad....
Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...