Are we civilised? (Published in Pakistan Observer)

 
 Civilized is a term applied to an advanced state of human society, in which a high level of culture, science, industry and government has been reached. Now the question is that we Pakistanis are civilized or un-civilized? Our people today say that they are civilized. We call our society civilized but how? We react first and think later, our normal arguments turn into fights which draw out from generations to generations.

We fight with our neighbours over petty things. We abuse and murder each other. We pass judgment without a second thought about our own flaws. In our conversations we generally use foul words and take it as a routine. We would rather allow someone to die than take a few minutes of our precious time to assist him. We turn a cold eye to other people’s suffering. We don’t respect our law. Pakistan is one of the few countries in the world where law-breaking is normal, and law-abiding is a dying art. Just like that the concept of waiting in queue is missing in Pakistan. And when it comes to protest for our rights, our civilized people do not hesitate even from burning the public property, looting the banks, shops, smashing and burning the buses and cars (owned by poor public). We are a nation where we take law into our own hand. We kill each other on the basis of the language we speak (remember the target Killing in Karachi). We take possession and claim ownership of the goods and property that don’t belong to us (Land Mafia).

Besides this all, we claim pride of being a civilized nation. But from which approach and standard, we are civilized? Being civilized is much more than just living in cities, having computers at home or cell phones in our pockets. I am not applying the term ‘uncivilized’ to all the Pakistanis. There are obviously millions of Pakistanis who are optimistic, forward looking, tolerant and enlightened. Now the question is how can we make our society ‘civilized’? In my opinion, the most important things are attitude and education and our schools can play a vital role in changing the existing state of affairs of our society. Schools can develop more civilized culture in our country.

Nisha Salahuddin

Saturday, April 18, 2015 
—Karachi