Where-and how-we lost it?
When Pakistan found its name amongst the
comity of nations on the world map, its inhabitants possessed a fervent zeal
and ardor and aspired to become a role model for the Muslim World. The stories
I have heard and read explained to me the sacrifice offered by those who
migrated and left all their belongings in order to lead an independent life and
those who welcomed the immigrants and shared their sorrows and joys. Reading
about these events-and about the history of Pakistan-I realized that an
atmosphere of peace, tranquility and mutual trust prevailed back then. A
passenger could travel at night without the fear of being robbed; children
could play in the streets without their parents breeding the fear of their off
springs being kidnapped; women could go to work without dealing with
harassment, people would try to resolve matters by discussion rather than
resorting to barbarism, impatience, rudeness, and physical brawl; and the
public could enjoy a deep and peaceful sleep at night.
This harmony prevailed because the basic
principles of humanity-honesty, kindness, truthfulness, steadfastness, moral
piety and a sense of communal duty amongst others-had a strong fundamental base
in our society. At this time, every individual had a passion to serve this
country.
Nevertheless, with the passage of time
these qualities were lost. Somewhere, in between we forgot the message of
Jinnah, the dream of Iqbal and the sacrifices of our ancestors who wished to
see us prospering and flying. Nowadays, the newspapers and the media are
rampant with news of theft, murder, harassment, fraud and dishonesty. Infect,
if we look at our very own selves, most of us will come to realize that
dishonesty has become an inherent feature of our personalities: speaking lies
and breaking commitments for material benefits give us “inner satisfaction.”
Consequently, the environment in which mutual trust existed has vanished.
Impatience has found such a deep place in our hearts that we can’t stand in a
queue for ten minutes and a small petty issue triggers our temper to such an
extent that some of us don’t even hesitate from taking the sacred life of
another human. Even those who refrain from such a heinous act spare no
opportunity to take benefit of the situation of others.
We have degraded ourselves to such an
extent that our characteristics our far below those required by the principles
of humanity, let alone the guiding principles of our religion for we actively
find faults in others but fail to peep in out own collars. Nobody cares about
humanity: the sense of helping the community and fellow human beings has
evaporated and exploiting others for the sake of individual benefits has become
order of the day. In our daily lives, no rules exist-or are obeyed-and might is
right has become the law. Consequently, jungle law is prevails and a gloomy
atmosphere of fear and mistrust looms above us.
The point that I want to make is that if we
are to build “Iqbal ka Pakistan” we need to realize that the social and ethical
diseases that exist in our society have to be cured for without it, the change
is improbable and the progress is impossible. The virtues of humanity must be
acquired and acted upon if we are to excel. No leader can put us on the path of
success and development until we change ourselves for God helps those who help themselves.
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