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14th August 1947, after hard struggles of Great Leader like M.A. Jinnah, Allama M. Iqbal and others the Muslims of South Asia were gifted by not just merely a piece of land to live in but a new identity in the shape of a country which they called Pakistan. Identity is perhaps the most important thing man has, that keeps him alive even after he dies. Man surely is mortal but his Identity, undoubtedly, ‘Immortal’; both as a person and as a nation. Identity may be defined as a distinctive characteristic of an individual or a particular group of individuals. It is our identity that distinguishes us from the rest of the people and nations of the world.
“A strong sense of identity gives man an idea he can do no wrong; too little accomplishes the same.” –Djuna Barnes
Pakistan and Pakistanis have been through an identity crisis from more than 4 of its past 6 decades. The term ‘identity crisis’ is used to denote a particular situation when a country and its people’s identity are facing conflicts regarding their identity. The present identity crisis Pakistan is hazardous. We are going through Social Religious, Political and Economical and it is all because of the changing role of Pakistan at International level.
The social and religious misconceptions work equally in destroying our unity. Some religious extremist groups which we are unaware of have created misconceptions in our minds about our religion. Apart from this the society is facing a ‘cultural war’ through different media. In a situation like this these extremist groups have got the youth of our nation unaware of their religious implementations. Our nation has itself in sectarianism crisis and this perhaps is the most important crisis these religious extremists have spread in Pakistan. They have made us forget and unaware of our Ideological Basis or more importantly forget our faith i.e. Islam. And Allama M. Iqbal states,
“If faith is lost, there is no security and there is no life for him who does not adhere to religion.”
The second type of identity crisis our country is going through is Political in nature. Our political system has been ruled by influencing groups since the establishment of our country. Political platforms were never created for the youth, so, they could participate in the political affairs of the country neither national nor international. The ultimate and worst result that comes up now is that no one even now cares about the mismanagement in the political sector. This activity has caused the educated youth to restrict themselves to participate in policy making and ultimately this important task of the nation is enjoyed by uneducated and narrow minded people who couldn’t decide the identity goals of the nation yet.
Coming to the Economical crisis, we have all witnessed how our economy has fallen in the past few decades. We may say it has grown but that is only at Macro level. The poor is standing at the same place where he was 10 years back or may be even at a more lower level. The increasing unemployment, inflation and poverty are not only causing economical problems but the common man is finding himself in an ‘identity crisis’.
Of all the aspects of social misery nothing is so heartbreaking as unemployment. -Jane Addams
The identity of a nation acts as its image and our identity is Pakistan whose situation at the moment is like a car which can’t be driven because it is out of fuel or a tree whose roots have been cut. We are losing our identity slowly and gradually on international basis. And this is only because we are concerned about our outer look and out-fit forgetting the basis to improve our inner self. If this keeps on going at the same speed our identity will vanish and will come to mortality.
“Human identity is the most fragile thing that we have, and it's often only found in moments of truth.” –Alan Rudolph
To stop this ongoing Identity Crisis, Identity Education Seminars should be held on public levels or very soon we will lose the gift of our great leaders. Their dream which they gifted us with. It is time for us to take a stand and rebuild our Identity in the world. Regain the respect we had. Stop the world from calling us terrorists. Pakistan is not only a piece of land it is our identity, spread this message throughout the world. One step forward might make us immortal in History. Pakistan and Pakistanis are in need of another M.A. Jinnah another Iqbal another Sir Syed Ahmed Khan. Regaining our identity might look like a difficult task but by following the message of Allah and his Messenger (Peace be Upon Him) and the path which our leaders followed this might not be as difficult as it seems to be so let us all join hands to regain our identity. And as the Father of the Nation, M.A. Jinnah states,
“With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve.”
God Bless Pakistan
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