Tamak Toyian Let's Make Inquisitiveness Contagious
I always thought humans were the only living creatures in this world who could judge a situation using their mind. We are proud decedents of homo sapiens family who can actually use their senses to detect danger, or maybe this is what I thought.
I have always been a fan of traveling ever since I was a kid, being raised in an airline family, I did have a lot of air travel to my share. It has always been the same experience, boarding from Pakistan, the thrill, the excitement and of course the food. One thing that over the years did change was the fact the moment we approached our destination people would start checking their passports and their IDs. I always imagined it being a precautionary act, but every time I would end up correcting my imagination.
The first thing that has changed over the years is the way we are handled, no matter whether your a politician, or a celebrity or just normal innocent man. You would be given the same orders “Green Passports this way“. Even though we love the gesture of actually been given a separate line, its the way they look at you that make you feel insecure. When your in the “green counter” line you’ll notice people actually looking at you as if your a criminal, the whispers and the policeman with his finger on the trigger . Well I gotta be honest sometimes you do feel like your a criminal. Finally when you approach the end of the longest judgmental queue you are greeted with this gentleman who goes through your passport as if he is looking for clues of your crime. Well if you just got your new passport your in luck or else he would given you a few glances before he would actually stamp the long awaited ‘entrance stamp’.
This ‘special treatment’ have been given to Pakistani citizens ever since the unfortunate events that took place in America; the 9/11 attacks if you will. Pakistan has been labelled as a terrorist country, a country where apparently everyone is an extremist. A country where becoming a “successful terrorist” is every man’s dream. A country where woman are treated as cattle, where every person roams on the street with weapons. This is the image of Pakistan which is being portrayed all over the world through media. The Homo Sapiens within us have been blind folded by the media in order to portray Pakistan as a terrorist nation.
I don’t know what is the intention for media behind all this I am not here to defend their stance today. This post is a small contribution in order to show the true Pakistan that we live in, not the media imposed terrorist state. The Pakistan that we live in is the “Islamic Republic of Pakistan”. Islam is the religion that forms the basis of our country, Islam the religion of Peace and harmony. A religion which protects each minority and gives as much rights to them as any Muslim.
2:256 “Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth has been made clear from error. Whoever rejects false worship and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And Allah hears and knows all things.”
The Pakistan we live in is where males and females are treated equally, in fact our women our competing neck to neck against every other citizen. Here it would be unfair not mention some of our young bright minds including the tragically short life of Arfa Karim, who at the age of 9 was the youngest certified Microsoft professional of the world. Malala Yousufzai a 15 year old young activist from the rural areas of Pakistan was nominated as the International Children’s Peace Prize. She is the winner of Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize and was recently supported by the Canadian prime minister for Nobel Peace Prize.
When the 2010 floods plunged 20 per cent of the nation underwater, the government was largely missing in action. Yet doctors, housewives, students, and many others (not to mention the military) immediately deployed to the affected areas to render assistance. Every citizen from Pakistan no matter young or old, rich or poor contributed to help their brothers and sisters in need. Abdul Sitar Edhi was one of the most active humanitarian involved in reviving precious Pakistani lives. He is the head of the biggest non profitable social welfare organization in Pakistan. He is also the recipient of the Lenin Peace Prize and the Balzan Prize. He was recently nominated for the Nobel peace prize award.
Pakistani documentary maker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy became the first ever Pakistani woman to bring home an Oscar with her aspiring “Saving Face”. Sharmeen was also featured on TIME’s 100 Most Influential People list for 2012. Usman Riaz a 21 year old guitar extraordinaire was present at TED global 2012. He amazed millions of viewers with his percussive guitar skills. Syed Muzamil Hasan Zaidi and his team LOL STUDIOS inspired many by attempting to promote a softer image of Pakistan. Their videos have inspired countless Pakistanis and have made Muzamil into something of a celebrity. Especially ‘22 Random Acts of Kindness’ earlier this year when Muzamil decided to spend his birthday performing random good deeds for strangers such as distributing balloons at an orphanage to anonymously cleaning someone’s car, touched the hearts of not just Pakistanis but many across the world.
Another aspiring news came to Pakistan when a group of Pakistani Student Debtors won the finals of the Karl Popper Debating Championship held in Mexico this year. Team members Zainab Hameed was named the top speaker of the competition, while Azeem Liaqat came in second. In the year 2012 the release of blasphemous film against the Muslims caused widespread riots throughout the Islamic World. These riots and demonstrations infuriated in many parts of Pakistan which caused widespread littering and damage of public property. A group of students from various universities contributed to the unthinkable, they cleaned after the demonstrations. This Project Clean up for peace was started by tweet which read:
“Let’s all be peaceful and show the world that REAL Pakistanis don’t believe in violence,”
2012 was a big year for Pakistan, worlds records were made as if it was piece of cake. Ibrahim Shahid from Islamabad stunned the world by scoring 23 A’s in Cambridge O’ level exams. It would be fitting to mention Ali Moin Nawazish another remarkable lad who made a record of appearing in 23 Cambridge A’level exams a few years back. Another bright mind was Sitara Akbar from Chiniot who set a world record for passing O’level exams at the age of 11. In October Pakistanis broke 12 world records in 3 days. Pakistan broke the record of Worlds Largest human flag which was made from over 24,000 young students. Another record was that 44,200 Pakistani gathered at one hockey stadium and sang the national anthem of Pakistan.
In the field of sports Pakistani snooker player Mohammad Asif won the World Amateur Snooker Championship. Pakistan were crowned as Asian Kabbadi Champions. We won the Asian Hockey Championship held at Doha Among great cricketing moments last year, Pakistan won the Asia Cup; was the joint winner of the Under-19′s Asia Cup; and finalists at the Blind Cricket World Cup. Pakistan recently won their recently concluded ODI series againt India on Indian Soil.
All these achievements coming from a nations which have been abandoned and stamped as a terrorist state. A nation where no international sporting event has been held for over 4 years. A nation where millions of people wake up everyday in the morning in an hope to one day be recognized as the peaceful Country it once was, nothing has changed over the years. We are still the same peaceful nation we once used to be, our culture, our religion and our morals everything is the same. Check out what every Pakistani thinks when people stamp us as terrorists here. I was born in Pakistan, I was raised in Pakistan, today when I speak, I know, I speak for every Innocent Pakistani in my country. We are a peaceful nation, every loss of human life no matter whatever race, creed or religion it belongs to is our loss. We as Pakistani’s condemns all acts of terrorism whether they are in Pakistan or in any other place in the world. I am a proud Pakistani, a proud Muslim and i am not a terrorist.
