REAL INDEPENDENCE: The Father of the Nation had envisioned a welfare, democratic state where the common man would steer the destiny of the nation. It is unfortunate that the common man soon became irrelevant in Pakistan. Today, nearly half our population lives below the poverty line. Our literacy rate is the lowest in the region. Our healthcare is in tatters. Inflation suffocates daily life, and unemployment is rampant. Are we truly independent, or are we still waiting to be freed from the shadows of servitude our elders fought to escape all those years ago? Are we justified to say that the coloniser and the Hindu monopoly have simply been replaced by friendly brothers who now keep us in bondage of another kind? Our independence will be real only when Pakistan is truly free of hunger, despair, and elite capture.
Qamer Soomro
Shikarpur
SOME CONFUSION: While celebrating the Independence Day every year, the media often conveys the sense that Pakistan got its independence from British rule. It can be argued that this is not a correct understanding of history. The fact is that Pakistan was created as an independent nation, and it was India, not Pakistan, that had been ruled by the British. Also, there is some confusion in media messages regarding the number associated with the Independence Day each year. It is often confused with anniversary celebrations. In the year 2026, for instance, it is the 79th ‘anniversary’ celebrations and the 80th Independence Day celebrations because independence was also celebrated on Aug 14, 1947, itself, while the anniversary was naturally celebrated a year after the event.
S. Zaki Hasan
Karachi
REVOLUTION: What Pakistan needs today is a revolution. The most suited option is to go for the Chinese model which focuses on the common man. A sham democracy serves as a tool of bourgeois and capitalists who make rules to suppress the people and block their way of progress by using various slogans. Pakistan was established for the economic wellbeing of Muslims. That purpose has not yet been achieved.
Khayyam Durrani
Karachi
Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2026
