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Monday, February 7, 2011

The Land of the Pure


Pakistan, a state situated in the most important strategic location on the map of the world, has its every citizen carrying a burden of Rs. 57,000 debt on his head. This land of the pure, besides being pure, is a tale full of corruption, bad-governance and mismanagement, puppet leaders, coups sponsored by foreign powers and above all youth without a vision.

I am among those more than 50% of people of Pakistan aged between 15-25 years, who have the immense responsibility of carrying this nation towards some sunshine. Working in Planning Commission of Pakistan, Government Office, as a support staff, I've witnessed so much in these three years of my tenure.

When I joined government service three years back, like every other member of this youth, I decided to never indulge myself into any malpractices and always stick to my principles of honesty. I received two offers of bribe in the initial first year of my tenure and thankfully I was able to ward off all those offers.

Time has passed and now I have become accustomed myself to the working of the government system. All my zeal and passion to play an honest role in the development of Pakistan, in any capacity I can, is lost. I feel that there is no difference between me and a fifty five year sitting in the office just to enjoy the perks and reputation that comes along with the package of government officer. These government officers, who fear so much for their job that they are ready to put their integrity at and honesty at stake just to please their seniors, though there are exceptions. Two years on, I feel dejected. I feel guilty as I've been an indirect part of wrong-doings and corruption. I am a part of that very system.

We see corruption, both moral and financial around us. Be it a government employee who files a wrong late sitting claim or a Government Official who take kick backs in different projects financed either by taxpayer's money or from foreign aid. I say it with sheer grief that corruption is deep inside our pants and we have to realize this. The most dangerous part of it is when the youth, expected to bring about a change in this country, is also falling into the category of corruption.

Reviewing myself, I see a person, who once set out to become a part in making this land of the pure progressive, is now swayed into what has always been done and someone who is always in support of the status quo. I have lost the cause and I see the same with some of the other youth we have around. To ask someone to behave, first we must behave the same way and my confession is just a part to motivate the youth. But we have to stand in front of the mirror and ask ourselves, what is the objective of this 5 feet 10 inch flesh on this earth? Surely we are not here to talk about the hottest girl in the town or university or talking about Big Boss. We are made for something big.

Glancing at the problems we face and the daunting task to make amends of the mistakes committed by our ancestors, we have to make sure that we as a youth don?t let ourselves to distract us from our objective. We face the fact that we inherited darkness in the form of load-shedding, our precious energy resources handed over to foreign companies and our land and military being used to fight the war of someone else.

The problems are massive and so is the responsibility on the shoulders of youth. When we say that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, then we also have to realize that it is the youth that has to be the medium to help this nation to reach the light at the other end of the tunnel. Night is always the darkest before dawn and the sunlight of this dawn can only be lit by the efforts of this talented youth which includes people like Ali Moeen Nawazish and Naveed Asif and many other success stories.

We as a youth, forget that it is ONLY AND ONLY US who can do something and if we get lethargic and let our desires overcome our objectives then there are serious problems for us. When I confess my laziness and becoming a part of the same bureaucracy, I feel gutted because we are the only hope of this Ummah and frankly speaking, if we turned an eye on our people then more misery is awaiting us. These multinational corporations and colonial system are waiting with their open jaws with sharp teeth to swallow us. The youth has to understand the role as the savior of this Ummah. We are the ones who can make the difference. People chanting slogans at Tahrir Square are from the youth who like to interact on facebook and twitter. It is high time for us to stand up and be counted. The youth residing in the land of the pure! Either we make history or we become history. 

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