Yet there are also several saving graces of Pakistani extremism.
An unwillingness to accept individual and collective self-responsibility is fairly common. Popular internal sources: Politicians, the army, and feudals.
Popular external villains are India, Israel, the US. One other favourite extreme is to claim conspiracies. Even though methods used to measure this malady may be inadequate and give misleading results, there nevertheless exists, side-by-side - widespread despair and widespread indulgence in the very same bribe-giving and bribe-taking that is verbally abhorred. The Corruption Perception Index may rank 60 or 70 countries as being more corrupt than Pakistan. In large cities, one dichotomy is illustrative: Under-educated but-fluent-in-Arabic prayer leaders preside over congregations of well-educated worshippers unwilling to question un-Islamic rants against non-Muslims during sermons.ĭespite high public awareness about corruption in public and private sectors - with a prime minister who, almost unidimensionally, keeps a strident focus on this malaise - there is virtual apathy about the decline in ethics. Leave alone the inability of bigots to conduct calm, reasoned debate on religious issues, even among many non-violent, moderately tempered individuals, any attempt to raise questions about rituals and widely-cited but weakly authenticated Hadiths (sayings of the Holy Prophet (pbuh)) are unable to put aside their hypersensitivity and showy religiosity. To cite only three of the 11 negative elements: There is an emotional volatility about religion per se. The duality, despite the disparity in the two numbers, simply mirrors the ambivalence of human nature and is not exclusive to my country - though the permutation of all 41 elements together gives “Pakistaniat” an exclusivity of its own. The aim was to conduct a cerebral, physical, emotional X-ray of the disparate elements that shape the unique Pakistani national identity, 30 positive elements were presented along with 11 negative elements. While inexcusably promoting one's own book - but only because it is perhaps relevant to the subject of this reflection - I wrote a slim volume published three years ago titled What is Pakistaniat? (Paramount Books, Karachi). They exulted in the safety and security they experienced all the way.
Just after New Zealand cricketers insensitively declined to play their first game hours before start-time due to an allegedly credible threat of a terrorist attack - the source of such dubious, malicious disinformation has never been shared - a group of about 20 single American female motorbike enthusiasts completed their journey from the spectacular mountains of North Pakistan to the Arabian Sea coastline. Now, three years later, I do not want to leave.” Most foreign visitors, especially from the West, who see Pakistan for the first time, say: “How different your country is from what I thought it was through media coverage.” Some years ago, an outgoing Consul General of Germany said at a farewell dinner: “When I was posted to Karachi, I did not want to come. By virtue of not being “reported,” this vast majority seems not even to exist. Because it does not spew hate or hurl stones or fire bullets, it receives no coverage because it is not newsy enough. The silent, non-violent majority is generally passive. When such excesses periodically recur, misleading notions take hold. Verbal extremism and physical violence of individual zealots, fringe groups, and fanatic mobs receive prominent coverage by news media. This second contribution’s title may fortify strongly entrenched misperceptions which actually deserve reconsideration. My first article published on Novemjuxtaposed “moderate” with “Pakistan.” That probably raised some sceptical eyebrows - until the text was read. The country's strongly entrenched misperceptions deserve reconsideration