OUR national ethos and values by and large are flawed, confused and fallacious in spite of our oft-repeated claims of being an Islamic republic. It takes centuries to develop a culture based on values, morality and a scrupulous code of conduct, drawing sustenance from religion, history and societal norms. In Pakistan, people fail to draw any strength from any such factor, and, despite practising the religion, remain corrupt, unprincipled and selfish. They cannot imagine interacting with anyone talking against the religion, but do not mind doing things that the religion forbids.

For example, giving bribe to a policeman for violation of some traffic rule is an accepted social practice, and exploiting the underprivileged is common. Who follows it or even feels bad about this gross exploitation of the poor? Many organisations do not pay minimum wages to their employees, and do not get them registered with platforms like the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI). It is not uncommon for sanitary workers to lose their lives by going down choked manholes, and mine workers continue to die because of unsatisfactory safety standards.

Does all this bother our society? No. We remain happy being ‘religious’. We should seriously work on ourselves, and change our mindset to develop a culture of fairness, justice, equality and lack of exploitation. We should do some soul searching in this critical regard.

Khayyam Durrani
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2024