It appears that Pakistanis at home have already mentally accepted their side losing to India as Indian and Pakistani cricket players get ready to compete against each other in the Cricket World Cup game.
It is rumoured that a Punjabi joke with unprintable expletives regarding its dismal prospects is making the rounds in Lahore. It translates to “our paper tigers will come home with their tails between their legs” in a funny manner.
It is uncommon in Pakistan for the Indian squad to publicly admit their supremacy over their own. And from this story of a new public feeling of self-criticism, which was created out of decades of repressed fury and irritation with changing regimes, hangs.
Pakistanis seem to be in an uncharacteristically candid mood for the first time in 75 years. Ordinary Pakistanis, who were previously afraid to publicly oppose their nation, now freely criticise the policies that have brought the nation to its knees.
Their renewed regard for India’s technological and scientific prowess—most recently demonstrated by Chandrayaan-3—is even more noteworthy.
Pakistani social media was flooded with remarks equating Islamabad’s demise with Delhi’s growing economic and technological clout in the weeks after India joined the elite group of “space superpowers.” Even the nation’s famously jingoistic TV hosts and YouTubers have gone off the rails, calling Pakistan a failed state and blaming the political establishment and mullahs for it.
This movie provides a sharp glimpse into the extent of people’s frustration and fury as they blow off steam by asking random members of the public what they think of Chandrayaan’s success.
Some try to conceal their anger by resorting to jokes with one saying: “Hum to pehle hi se chaand par pahunch chuken hai. Bijli nahin, paani nahin, cheeni nahin!” ( With no electricity, no water, no sugar in Pakistan, it has always felt like living on the moon.)
One man bursts into laughter when asked if thought Pakistan would ever reach the moon. He then says:“Abhi to main yeh koshish kar raha hoon ke mujhe kisi European mulk ka visa mil jayee. Jis din mil gaya aur main wahan chala gaya, main samjhoonga ke main chaand se oopar pahunch gaya. Main jannat me aa gaya.” (Right now I am desperately trying to see if I can get a work visa for a European country. If I get it I’ll regard it as landing on the moon. I’ll be in heaven.)
Comparisons with India were dismissed as a joke. As one interviewee put it:“Hamara un se koi muqabla hi nahin…woh har cheez mein hum se aage hain– show biz, education level, medical, hum unki kitaben bhi parhte hain. Kahan woh kahan hum.” (There’s no comparison with India. They’re ahead in everything– show biz, education level, medical field, we even read their books.)
We learned that Pakistan was falling behind on practically all measures of social and economic development, including science and technology, education, and health. Even the most fundamental infrastructure, like safe highways for kids to travel to school, was lacking. As recently occurred when a group of pupils spent hours trapped mid-air after the cable car ferrying them to school in the lack of a road connection developed problems, this had put their lives in danger.
“Pachhattar saal ho gaye is mulk ko bane, India chaand pe pahun gaya, China superpower ban gaya..hum apne bachhon ke school pahunch ne kilye sarken bhi nahin bana sake (It has been 75 years since Pakistan was founded, India reached the moon, and China became a superpower, but we haven’t been able to build a proper road to ferry our children to school),” lamented one person.
There were sarcastic references to Zulfiqar Bhutto’s well-known declaration that Pakistan would create a nuclear weapon to rival India even if Pakistanis were had to “eat grass”. That “eat grass” promise appears to be coming true in the current climate of a debilitating economic crisis and shortages of basic necessities.
The hosts of a special Geo News programme, Huma Amir Shah and Abdullah Sultan, emphasised the sharp contrast between the situations and aspirations of the two countries.
“India chaand pe pohoch gaya, hum beech mein hi phasein huye hai,” Huma can be heard saying. Pakistan, she said, needed to “broaden its horizons”.
Popular TV evangelist Mufti Tariq Masood, in a video, noted the criticism levelled against the mullahs but pushed back, saying the country was not run by them but by politicians (“Jab se India chand pe gaya hai hamara bara mazaaq udaya ja raha hai—Cheeni nahi mil rahi hai, paan bhi hindustan se aa raha hai; khan ko kuch nahi hai; yeh gutke par chal rahi hai”).
Everything here is unprecedented. Even among regular people, let alone loud opponents, it is difficult to recall such public denunciations of Pakistan’s ruling class. Even more uncommon is praising India and denouncing Pakistan in the same sentence.
It seems like all the anger that had been suppressed for so long has now found an outlet because of the embarrassment. However, no one in the ruling cabal, which is made up of the army, politicians, and mullahs, is willing to accept responsibility for shattering Jinnah’s lofty ambition of a modern, progressive Muslim nation.
The conclusion of 75 years of incorrect objectives supported by successive administrations, their absolute disregard for common people, and a cynical exploitation of religion in the name of maintaining Islamic identity is its current catastrophe.
Everything here is unprecedented. Even among regular people, let alone loud opponents, it is difficult to recall such public denunciations of Pakistan’s ruling class. Even more uncommon is praising India and denouncing Pakistan in the same sentence.
It seems like all the anger that had been suppressed for so long has now found an outlet because of the embarrassment. However, no one in the ruling cabal, which is made up of the army, politicians, and mullahs, is willing to accept responsibility for shattering Jinnah’s lofty ambition of a modern, progressive Muslim nation.
The conclusion of 75 years of incorrect objectives supported by successive administrations, their absolute disregard for common people, and a cynical exploitation of religion in the name of maintaining Islamic identity is its current catastrophe.
“This story doesn’t have an ending. The military and civilian elites will continue to award themselves massive tax breaks and perks of every sort. The rich will continue to be rich; the poor will get a lot poorer. The country will survive, whatever that means,” he told The Friday Times.
Therefore, it is not unexpected that Pakistanis are now speaking out. They are done with it.
