Pakistan: How a Youth Sees | Opinion Maker.
Pakistan is not just a country it is a phenomenon. A brand new state filled with incredible possibilities and promise. People wasting their lives in a stagnant environment and with no future came here. They were not just talented, they were multi-talented. When people from different parts of British ruled India – came here – they were determined to change their lives completely because they did not want to waste single day – when the doorway to all kinds of opportunity had opened.
To top this all was the emerging city Karachi. No history to burden it, just some old British colonial remnants – which did not signify much. No burden of history of any kind. It was originally the capital of Pakistan -it became the commercial capital of Pakistan. More than half of Karachi comprises of factories, the rest are residential areas. I have a story a personal favourite of mine. There was this Christian factory worker in a textile company, he lost his job – because of the economic downturn.
He was not out work, he found an opportunity to darn shirts and trousers. He did this for one shop then several shops in the area. His work load increased and told the shopkeepers he would not be able to darn them all in one day, he would have to take them home. Soon enough he was darning them from his house. Since he was the most trustworthy darner the work kept piling up in his house.
Eventually he started hiring people for this job – they were many times poorer than he was. Now this former factor worker has become a businessman.
He sends his workers to collect clothes from different areas of Karachi. His home has become a factory. The next time I met him he was not lamenting not about having a job, he was worried about the business atmosphere which had slowed down. Talking like a true businessman. He had transformed his original setback as opportunity to make himself a businessman. This is what Pakistan is all about. Out of simply nothing people are building their lives and improving on them.
Pakistan means hope and opportunity. Those who had vision, came to Pakistan. Because of this people in Pakistan say ‘Pakistani hamari jaan’.
Pakistan had nothing to start with. One factory in its name. There was no ink, no paper. The Indians had it all. The British flag came down in New Delhi government offices and other official buildings and the Indian flag was flying. Everything was ready made. Pakistan has been built carefully. It still has a long way to go. Of course there are corrupt people. It is not easy to build a nation from scratch, but we are still at it - there is no problem Pakistan cannot fix.