IN one of his many theatre plays, the ailing comedian Umer Sharif played a domestic servant. While consoling the wife of his master about the falling health of the latter, he would go great lengths, but his end-of-the-dialogue refrain would invariably be: ‘sahib bacheingay naa’ [the master won’t survive]. It became a popular catchphrase at the time and, regardless of whether or not the master survived in the play, the phrase did survive all these years. After the New Zealand cricket team’s abrupt departure, I heard many a Pakistani saying, bacheingay naa. This, I found, quite a negation of the resilience that has become the main characteristic of Pakistanis over the years.

Similar words were heard after the world went against us in the wake of our nuclear explosions and the subsequent blocking of foreign exchange bank accounts. At the time I was working for a company that was going through the construction phase of a multimillion-dollar project and the team was a bit worried because of the unavailability of foreign exchange to procure necessary machines and equipment.

They quickly came up with a strategy and completed the project within cost, ahead of schedule and without an accident. The same company recently announced an unprecedented dividend of Rs7 per share on a base share value of Rs10!

After the 9/11 incidents, many foreigners left Pakistan in a hurry, including the company’s vice-president of manufacturing who was a Japanese. However, a Pakistani engineer filled the void and the plant continued operating.

When the Sri Lankan team was attacked in 2009, foreigners again left Pakistan and others stopped coming, all business meetings had to be shifted to Dubai. Since our expat trainer could not come to Karachi, a five-day video-based training was arranged and was delivered successfully for the critical chemical plant which was the first of its kind in Pakistan.

In short, Pakistan and Pakistanis survived these critical periods. All the people who are saying bacheingay naa should have no doubt that we have seen worse, and we have survived.

New Zealand has gone. England is not coming. And Australia is likely to be no different. Likewise, the expatriates may stay away and some more may leave the country, but we, as a nation, would not only survive, but thrive.

S. Nayyar Iqbal Raza
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 23rd, 2021