Beyond 14 August

Today is 68th 'Independence' Day of Pakistan. It was 14th August 1947 when the Britishers emaciated governance decided to leave and divide the land into two and hand over to its assigned leaders. We can debate life-long whether the decision was correct or not. It is futile to harp on it. For thinkers, the amount of sacrifices, steadfastness, unyielding commitment, diplomacy made by the people to carve out a nation that was dormant for centuries is a huge undertaking nevertheless!

For 68 years , we have been celebrating this day in a huge way: home and streets adorned with star and crescent, patriotic songs being played all over the country, breaking/creating record for largest Pakistani flag!

The spirit is very patriotic, but this feeling should sustain in every one's heart for life.

The spirit of acknowledging, tolerating and welcoming each others differences should be the fabric that this nation of 185 million people should be holding to stay united.
Not everyone living in Pakistan can be a Muslim.Not every Muslim living in Pakistan can be a Sunni. And not every Sunni living in Pakistan can be a Deobandi.

Similarly, not every Pakistani can speak Punjabi and not every Pakistani can speak Sindhi (I can speak none). Independence spirit should be embraced with tolerance, compassion and open mindedness.

Only after we overcome this barrier we can look beyond what it takes to be on the path of development and progress. We are a third world developing country lagging behind in every walk of life - from education and research to infrastructure and governance. Instead of ostracizing oneself from it or selling yourself to other entities to malign your country does more harm to your identity. Crisis should be taken as an opportunity for us to build as that seems the only direction to go after hitting rock bottom.