The Irony of being a Pakistani

Culture and traditions are the identity of a nation; they help one stand out in this global aura, form the basis of our introduction with people from various backgrounds and determine our behavior pattern in different fields of life. The language spoken in a region, the norms of its society, the traditions and celebrations held amongst them, the way its people dress up delineate and epitomize the culture of the denizens of a respective region.

Our nation too comprises of a variety of cultures: the traditional khaddar dress worn in sindh, the rituals practiced in balochistan, the celebrations held in the northern areas, the qahwa parties held in KPK and the general celebrations of Eid and weddings portray our lifestyle. Nevertheless, much of what has been going on may be characterized as loss of confidence in our cultural values.

Prior to the arrival of the British, our cultural dilemma had started but it was not influenced from the outsiders. Once they gained control of the situation, they took every possible step to persuade us that their culture is the superior one. The inferiority complex still resides deeply in our consciousness. Consequently-and paradoxically-our constitution imperatively states that the national language is Urdu while the national dress is shalwar-kameez but the criteria for gaining high social status in this country is speaking English in foreign accent and wearing a formal attire which originated from the west. Our national dress has been reserved for the people who relate to the lower social class-an office bearer wears a suit while his clerk wears what we call our national dress.

The youth of this country-while desperately working for the change-does not know about the past of its country, about the heroes that their motherland gave birth to, about the inspiration the works of Iqbal or the bravery of Tipu Sultan can provide it with. Its heroes and role models come from the west, it wants to imitate the western-or more recently, Indian-actors, it copies their way of lifestyle and their way of dressing up. Such is the importance we attach to our culture!!!

Our education system still simulates what I think reproduces the ideology of being inferior to the “angraiz”. After independence, India abolished the British system of education straight away and developed its own according to its own environment. We, however, continued with it but more importantly, failed to develop a comprehensive education system. Consequently, the syllabus of the “highly rated schools and colleges” comes from Oxford. The students who are bred in these schools have a promising career and lustrous aspects in front of them than those who come from local schooling system just because the foreign syllabus and schooling is regarded highly in our society and they can speak English more fluently than those from local school systems. Having studied in two of these elite schools, I have no hesitation in saying that most of us despise the local traditions, the national language and the traditional lifestyle.

I have no problem with any of the aspects mentioned above but these must not become the guiding principles of our society; every single aspect is entailed for survival in the contemporary society. Nevertheless, the drowning of our own ideology and deterioration of our own culture will only lead to loss of our identity and ideological slavery in the long term.