What
will future historians write about Pakistan?
AUGUST
1, 2020
I wonder how future
historians of the country will view Pakistan in these crisis-ridden times. I
assume, of course, that humanity will survive the current pandemic and there
will be historians in future.
Perhaps they will write
about how the dithering Chief Executive of the country went around in public
without wearing a mask in the beginning and saying that the disease was just
like the flu and would affect only the elderly and aged people. They will
mention him constantly saying that he was against a lockdown from the start and
then imposing a lockdown and calling it “smart”. They will note that he
frequently spoke about turning the country into a welfare state without doing
anything about it. They will be amazed that he then told people to take all
precautions (like wearing masks), and then immediately announced the reopening
of tourism in areas where there are virtually no healthcare facilities. They
will write about how, despite knowing that this lethal virus had the potential
to strike in crowded places, he allowed the opening of mosques, malls and
markets.
Historians will mark how, instead of concrete steps to help the
very poor of the country, his government announced a package to help the
builders’ mafia, a package that would simply restart speculation in a sector
where seven trillion rupees of black money is stocked, simply because powerful
men in this business are among his staunch supporters.
Perhaps
they will also note that his government succumbed to some religious bigots who
have proclaimed that this entire Corona thing is a hoax to enrich
pharmaceutical companies, and that if a vaccine is developed, it will contain a
very small microchip that will turn Muslims away from their religion. And so,
despite being told by healthcare professionals not to open mosques, his
government did so, just to pacify the religious lobby.
They will be amazed that in the twenty first
century, his government did nothing to promote the teaching of science in
schools, with the result that illiterate scholars freely taught children in
seminaries that the earth is flat and stationery while the sun goes around it
once in twenty four hours. But then, they will also find that the
Oxford-educated prime minister himself proclaimed that Chinese trains run at
the speed of light and Germany and Japan share a common border.
They will write about the controversy arising
every year at the time of sighting of the moon and people in some places
claiming to have seen the moon even though astronomical calculations predicted
that it could not be there. And how the clerics refused to take into
consideration the scientific fact that the moon would be present in the
country’s skies above the clouds and declared the celebration of Eid-al-Azha
next week a day later than it should have been. They will wonder why the people
tolerated a group of illiterate clerics wasting millions every month scanning
the heavens to look for the moon (when the science to determine the time, date
and place of sighting the moon had been available for more than a thousand
years). And they will see people (under the influence of these same illiterate
and bigoted clerics) waste money on quacks and spiritualists to make their
wives bear male children.
They will then conclude that the terrible condition of the
country was due to lack of education (particularly scientific education) among
its leaders and the people.
The writer is an engineer, a former
visiting lecturer at NED Engineering College, an industrialist, and has been
associated with the petroleum, chemical industries for many years. He tweets @shakirlakhani
https://dailytimes.com.pk/648711/what-will-future-historians-write-about-pakistan/
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