Looking back in Pakistan in order to look ahead
We are lucky to have another essay from Myra today about her family ties to Pakistan. Though this essay is about the horror of war as it happened in Pakistan two generations ago, the feelings it brings up are as fresh as this morning's headline about the Republic of Georgia and the new war going on there. War doesn't care about the innocent and doesn't respect boundaries. It is a testiment to the human spirit that hope can come from the type of horror and devastation that so many people around the world have experienced. I hope that happens in all the places in the world that are now consumed in fighting.
A Message of Hope and Determination
One thing will always be extremely dear to me: A letter that my Dadima (Paternal Grandmother) wrote to me about the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan. At that time I was in fifth grade and was really moved by it. I have saved this wonderful piece of history in a special place where I keep all of my memories. Whenever I read it, it brings tears to my eyes. I am so glad that I was curious enough about my heritage and roots to ask Dadima to write to me about it. This is truly one piece of paper that I can never give up.
The partition, the biggest forced migration in the history of the world, was an extremely frightening and difficult time for the 14 million people who faced it. I find it hard to imagine how so many innocent people could be forced to leave their homes and to suffer from such a terrible ordeal. People who had once been friends and lived side by side became enemies. My family was lucky to escape their house just as their neighbor's house was being burned in the middle of the night, unexpectedly all of a sudden. They fled for their lives, and were forced to leave everything behind--all of their dreams, their home, and everything they had.
My great grandmother, Sara, quickly wore three shirts, one on top of the other. That is the only thing she had time for. My great grandfather was lucky enough to quickly pick up his and his children's degrees and a few important documents. There were people at the front of the house ready to kill them with guns as they would try to escape. Luckily they were able to jump over the back wall of the house. How scared they must have been. Hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives in this senseless killing. They ran, they walked, and they hid in dark jungles for three and a half days. They were lucky to head in the right direction and finally arrive at the UN refugee camp at the border with the newly created Pakistan. There they had their first meal in three and a half days, a meal of lentils and half a pita bread each (daal and roti).
My family had lost everything. All they had was each other and a spirit of hope and determination. In spite of their difficulties, they never gave up. After all they had the most precious gift of all--life. With hard work, love, and understanding they rebuilt their new lives together. I am proud to say that after much sacrifice and struggle they became doctors, lawyers, business people, engineers and professionals in many other fields.
Such is the story of my family and millions of other Pakistani's. It is a story that I can never forget, a story of endless possibilities when you do not give up, a story of hopes and the dreams that came true with the new-found independence. Everyone put aside their differences and united to build their new nation, Pakistan.
But somewhere along the way, the country lost its way. We need to help Pakistan find its way again and to bring back the hope. People and nations have suffered greatly. And it is important to bring back democracy to Pakistan, peace, security, and justice for all. We must not let all the sacrifices go waste. It is time for everyone to work together and to let the hope shine through.
Short term fixes will keep us going in circles and we have seen that. It is time for us here in America to realize how important it is to develop a long term strategic relationship with the people of Pakistan. We in America just cannot afford to loose in this vital area.
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There was a wonderful idea in the comments section of my article "Education and Poverty in Pakistan" that every Pakistani abroad should support the education of one poor child in Pakistan. I extend this challenge to all and I would not limit this to Pakistanis and Pakistan alone. Let all of us who can, support at least one struggling child to get education in some impoverished part of the world. Remember for most people the cost will be very little. Small efforts like this can truly help to make the world a better place.
Other articles in this series:
Hope Within Pakistan-July 5, 2008
Education and Poverty in Pakistan-July 13, 2008
Women of Pakistan-July, 28, 2008
A Message of Hope and Determination-August 12, 2008
Myra Chaudhary
Myra is a junior at Brandeis University. She is majoring in Economics and International and Global Studies.
21 Comments
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Dear Myra
Thankyou very much for hpe. It is not that we do not value what we have, i.e. freedom, (I do not think we ever got independent, because ignorance and poverty has always chained our feet and we have been lacking in power and resources to fight these dragons. These dragons have now become great monsters gulping everything, our hope, faith, courage; everything is corrupted.) As a nation we are fearing loss of freedom, the only little window of fresh air and hope as we are sinking in the dark cell of despair.
War is tapping at our doors, O little angel. The horrors of war were still fresh in the consciousness of our people as you, yourself can vividly read. Our mothers and grandmothers have many stories to tell and no one of them wants to relive that experience.
The greatest handicap of mankind is that we learn nothing from experience of others. We have learned nothing from the World Wars, the Veitnam War and the Afghan War. We do not realize, while we are at war, we are weakening ourselves and other nations are getting stronger. Their citizens are enjoying safety and security, and peace of mind, a luxury once we had enjoyed.
Alas! the divine do not alter or modify its principles, but human understanding is too limited. The glory and self pride and extreme sense of self righteousness have blinded human intelligence. We are turned blind, deaf and dumb reaching no point of return.
Unfortunately we are at loss of humanity, humane care and concern. We need an active search for the Messihas to cure the wounds of humanity and restore balance and peace of the world.
Let us pray for the emancipation of the humanity itself. Let us bow our heads and pray silently for it.
HOPE they say is the strongest word in the English language, even stronger than LOVE. Pakistan is once again on a roller coaster and with the things going as they are there is very little that we can do except hope - without losing it. However, to do that he tone has to set at the top, which would trickle down.
I hope and pray that writings, such as yours, serve as an eye-opener for the Pakistani leadership and prevent them from dragging the country to the point of no return.
Keep writing and I wish you good luck at college and beyond!
Siraj Khan
14th AUGUST 2008
Let us join Myra and lift our hands to pray for the real independence and real freedom.
I hope that Pakistan can rebuild to become a strong nation just as its people did in fleeing from India. While I don’t know much about the violence of the partition, I know that it was unnecessary and ruthless. Whenever I visit my grandparents, who live in South India, I wake up to the sound of Muslim prayers. Muslims and Hindus can live peacefully together. America needs to help support Pakistan on its road to freedom.
What a thought provoking article once again. It simply touches the heart. Pakistan is beautiful, it has talented people, so it can emerge as a developing nation if, as you wrote, it persues the right track. The only tragedy with it is that it could not get a real devoted leadership, some used Islam for their own benefits, the others tried to dominate on every section of life in the name of democracy.Islam, a very simple & lovely relegion, is being practiced in a very wrong manner, its true spirit is being mashed. But I have a very positive approach to all the problems. I am sure one day a real devoted , patriot & faithful leader will emerge from out of this chaos & lead the country according to the sublime principals of Quid-e-Azam—our great leader who got this country at the cost of his health & life. Hope is the essence of life & our hearts are full of hope.
Again my doll you are right that every person who can afford should adopt a child for education. Our International Inner Wheel club started this program by requesting its memebers to sponsore a deserving student & many members including myself sponsored one or two students each.
Keep up this wonderful job, may God bless you. Amma
I am extremely concerned. I live in Pennsylvania and see the constant repetition of the ads indicating Barak Obama is a popular “empty suit”. The message is gaining ground. When will the Democratic party and it candidates wake up. Don’t ask for my money when you are spending millions on advertisements that don’t respond. Do not make the mistake of 2004 by letting them set the tone—swift boat and then as is now being done, weakly respond. WAKE UP Lay out the case against McCain. P.S. Saying being a POW does not qualify someone to be President is not an attack on someone’s patriotism—it is a statement of fact. As someone who taught college for over 20 years, I do know the academic game. The issues are jobs, health care, financial security. Obama is letting McCain make it about National Security and Obama. I would make it about McCain, his record which I would not want to run on, universal health care, jobs, the economy, the ideological aversion to regulation. I think Obama should hire Krugman. Four years ago, I sent a messge to John Kerry on the issue of Bill Shrum. I was ignored then and I will probably be now and John McCain may well win the election. I am angry, frustrated and deeply disappointed.
There are many Pakistanis doing amazing things to maintain the spirit that was prevalent immediately after partition despite all the negative events covered extensively in US media. A few of these people will be visiting Boston on Oct. 18 to commemorate OPEN’s 10th anniversary. One such person in Seema Aziz whose NGO takes over failed government run schools and rehabilitates them using money raised from Pakistanis. Another is Sarah Bird (MIT) of SaafWater bringing new ways of providing drinkable.
I like your concrete ideas about what Americans can do to uncover the lost ground by recent US policies. One US person stands like a shining beacon in this respect. He is Gregg Mortison who has created innumerable schools in the northern Pakistan. He is a testament to the best in a human spirit and his efforts have been duly recognized by the people that he has effected. We need to be sending our Greggs out there rather than grunts.
Pakistan is a beautiful place. It also was one of the safest and the most peaceful places. Ever since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan some thirty years ago this beautiful country has been changed into a battle ground by evil outside forces for their own objectives. The architects planning and organizing resistance to this aggression by Soviets created a genie So powerful was this genie it finally brought the Soviets to their knees and the Soviet Union is no more. What went wrong though was that the great architects of this master plan forgot to make a bottle to put the genie back.
Question now is, Do we want to keep going in circles? If the answer is no then the solution is simple.
Reverse the process build a bottle,,,,, build schools, real schools this time, give people possibilities and opportunities.
All this can be done at a fraction of the price of war and we wont even have to fight forever.
Dear Myra, this is very right and this is how our country was born. I hope our politician will remember all this and the sacrifieses given by our grand and great grand parents. These stories should be sent to all Pakistani here in USA and back in Pakistan. Please keep up with your great duty.
Dear Myra,
you have written this article at the right time to highlight the issues that Pakistan is facing and needs help to resolve and come out of the difficult times.
Our fathers and forefathers went through the most difficult times of their life due to the forced migration at the time of partition. Pakistan was created after the sacrifices that millions of families made at that time. Pakistan is currently going through a very difficult political, economical and social crisis and all of us have to join hands to help the country to come out of it.
Keep up the good work.
people in Pakistan will stand tall again! the world is ready for it.
dear myra, you are so young and yet you are opening up the eyes of all of us who are lucky enough to read your articles. keep writing and thanks. faye
Pakistan was unlucky to lose Jinnah so after it was born. Jinnah’s speech at the time of Pakistan’s birth is an example of secular ideals that he foresaw for the new country but somehow religious fanatics stole the country from idealists like him and Alama Masriqi etc.
It is unfortunate that Jinnah did not get his rightful place in Indian Congress Party which became dominated
by another Gujrati prayer monger.
My Dear Myra,
I have been reading through your articles and I always find them full of love and hope for this country. We need young people like you to come forward and change the image of this country through wisdom driven energy in the right direction. I wish you well.
I think pakistan and pakistani’s need to forget about what happened in the past and concentrate for a new beggining.
In this new begging the all the big powers have a part to play. They must stop selling guns rather they must focus on providing the poor relief from injustice and deprivation. The war agaist terror will be thing of the past very soon.
Keep up the good work.
With a lot of love.
Dr. Taeed
Salaam Myra
What great thoughts, ideals and morals Pakistan was built on 61yrs ago yet, look at our leaders today. We need young enthusiastic pakistani’s to help Pakistan find it’s way and bring back hope to take our wonderful country forward into the 21st century as you so rightly stated.
Dear Myra
You have a brilliant mind, and I am a huge admirer of your work. Not only do you bring hope to Pakistani people, but you bring it to all, whose had or have struggles in their lives. I must say, this particular article gave me goose bumps, while reading it. your story is very compelling. Please continue to doing what you are doing. I believe in change, and you are creating it.
Thank you!!
Alex
There is a Pilipino saying that goes like this,translated into English, “One who does not
know how to look back will never reach the goal
he/she is aiming for.” The title of your article
reminded me once more of these words. It is very
true that Pakistan has to look back to be able to
go forward. Especially at this time of chaos and
turmoil in the country, hopefully, people will be
encouraged to unite for the sake of peace and
quiet in this turbulent part of the globe. People
everywhere and every citizen of the world, at least, deserve to live a decent life, free from suffering the effects of war and conflict, no longer to endure great atrocities in the hands of
merciless men and women.
With the advancement in science and the advent of
the internet, I give thanks to Senator John Kerry
that a talented young woman like you has the
priviledge, through your writings, to voice your
concern and love and let everyone know about that beautiful land called Pakistan. As what Senator
Barack Obama had mentioned in his book, I fervently hope that you young people will inherit
a better world than the one we live in now.
More power to you, Myra.
josie
You touch on an important issue-the need to wake up and realize the sacrifices and hardships our elders bore to find a home for a Nation. And now after 61 years, its unfortunate that we have a piece of land looking for a Nation! There is rejoicing and celebration over the exit of Gen Musharaf within the ranks of the same old ‘champions of democracy’ who have betrayed the trust of the people more than once, and I dont see much hope for a change for the better. God save Pakistan!
myra,
therein,you, once again,reiterated your attachment and close ties with Pakistan and foreparents.
You are so passionate about them that I truly believe,publishing a book related to your family history or sharing your ideas how Pakistan would prosper to the fullest, will be immensely valuable to all concerned. Well written article.
keep up the good work!
meriane
Myra, history shows us that devide and conquer is a common and unfortunately very effective political tool for those who lust to achieve and retain power. The politics of fear has been and continues to be the path to power not only that dictators use but more ominously in those countries who proport to be democratic. The United States is certainly not immune. The American Revolution saw families torn because of different loyalties and when our democracy was established, those who had been loyal to England were forced to move to Canada with only the clothes the wore on their backs. Divided loyalties tore families apart in our Civil war when brother fought brother. And on and on. Why deversity is allowed to be demonized instead of embraced is a question that has troubeled me. If one has a different belief or a different shade of skin or a different sexual orientation politicians seize this difference to devide us. It is not only in our past history but is as current as our present political elections. Dividing and tearing down requires no imigination or intellect. It is the builders who are our hope be it building schools or bridiging cultures or guiding nations. Families such as yours will build Pakistan anew. Let us hope America’s new leaders can too. I’m Dan West
Dear Myra, this was another very thought- provoking article you have written.The killing of innocent people absolutely is senseless, and I hope that it will stop one day,but people must be aware of these situations because it affects everyone,not just the people who live there.War and killing have no boundaries. We all must hope for peace and never give up hope. It is sad but good you are talking about the past so we might have a better future. Thank you. Donna