If you watch vlogs, you must be aware of the ‘new world’ emerging out there. Recently, I noticed something in one of the vlogs by a couple in Canada. This family has migrated from Pakistan. The husband fell sick and had to be hospitalised. Now, instead of praising the Canadians or talking about the disease, both the husband and wife veered off into how ‘bad’ Pakistan and its healthcare happen to be.
I am not saying that Pakistani health- care is great, but I hate to hear about it being bad from people who do not even live here. Why degrade Pakistan while you are living abroad? You do not live here; period. In another vlog, they made fun of how ‘desis’ happen to be.
Never have I seen an Indian or a Sri Lankan degrading their country like we do in the name of ‘truth’ and ‘honour’. It simply did not occur to the smart couple that if someone should be blamed, it should be the corporate entities who might have been at fault.
As a nation, why are we always the ones washing our dirty linen in public at the first opportunity? People do not prefer Gulf countries due to their healthcare systems; do you hear them cry? Why should one drag Pakistan into everything? We get it; you did not like it and left. Good for you. Now leave us.
It is this very mindset that works behind our news headlines every day. Why bad? Why always bad? The more I check Twitter, the less I want to be a Pakistani. There are people in Afghanistan, Iran and Sierra Leone with more pride than us. I am not saying we should not be critical, or live in a utopian society, but we should be careful whenever we talk about our country. Nobody likes to call themselves ugly. We are naïve to criticise everything in our country at international forums and on social media.
There is a dire need to break this cycle and search and post something positive, and it must start from home. As for the expatriates, who never miss an opportunity of finding faults, please get a life.
SAMAN HAMID
PESHAWAR
