For the last 8 days, my routine is to go home and stick to BBC to watch uprising in Egypt. It is the country in which I spent good 4 months i.e. July – November in 2010 only.
When I was leaving Cairo two months back, I had all the plans to re-visit the city. Not only for the people I have befriended there but the place itself is lovely. Cairo is indeed one of the best combinations where you have the civilization meeting modernization. It is hard to believe that Cairo, the city that never sleeps, now doesn’t stop burning.
During my stay there, I had to come in terms that any Egyptian I meet will not be happy with Mubarak’s regime and want to leave the country soonest. Also, I learned that do not discuss politics or be opinionated in public places. You may discuss anything but do not touch politics as you don’t know where and who is Mubarak’s man.
A very close Egyptian friend used to curse the dictatorship and had various stories from here and there that how this regime is eating his country. In response, all I used to tell him that not all the dictators are like that. To which he always agreed and said, ‘Pakistan may be the only country that flourished in every mean after 1999 military takeover’.
Egypt’s uprising has also risen a concern in Pakistan if we ever going to witness such change. I plainly say, no. Change comes to those who feel the need for it and ready to accept it.
Pakistan is the nation which is divided in the name of sects, language, ethnicity and what not. A divided nation can never witness a revolution or change; we always witness a takeover. On the streets of Cairo, people from all classes and backgrounds are claiming their rights. Moreover, Egyptians living abroad are also supporting their people.
Do Pakistanis have the courage to leave their comfort zone and come on the streets?
Every day, there are not less than 2 rape or abuse cases are reported in media. Food and health necessities are either missing from the sight or being sold at the highest price. Thousands of employees are getting sacked and industries shut down for months now. To all this, the nation reciprocates by becoming criminals.
The frustration of all the above is either taken out by raping a 2-year-old or by killing your own family.
We are definitely heading towards a change; a change in morals and values. We all literate people can do only yap, yap on talk shows, curse politicians, blame feudalism, abuse government, but we will never step out of our houses.
Pakistanis cannot bring the change, let alone be the change.
P.S. I too am a Pakistani.
