Asif Mahmood

Seminars, conferences and events are enough to drive me mad. It has been years since I have attended one, and I can hardly remember the last time I actually went to an event. On the occasion of August 14, however, a highly respected personality told me that he was holding a conference about Pakistan, so I went.

When it was my turn to speak, I said, in keeping with the spirit of Independence Day, that we do criticize ourselves, and quite rightly so. But as I was coming here today, one question was on my mind: are there also some things in our national life that we, as a nation, can be proud of?

I then listed a few things, one, two, three, four.

When I finished speaking and took my seat, the State Secretary, visibly agitated, came up and declared, “Since we are the hosts, we are not responding to Asif Sahib’s remarks today. Otherwise, we would certainly tell him what the facts are.”

He did not feel the need to add such a qualification after anyone else had spoken. People said all sorts of things. But he accepted all of them with a smile.

Apparently, at this Independence Day gathering, the gentleman found it rather difficult to accept the simple proposition that Pakistan has a few good things about it as well.

It is also against the basic etiquette of a gathering that when a guest has finished speaking, you immediately walk onto the stage and start rebutting what he has said. After all, nobody at such gatherings is presenting some final, unquestionable truth. Everyone is simply expressing his or her own views and opinions.

If you are going to critically examine everyone’s opinion, then fair enough. But if the only opinion that troubles you is the one in which someone has said something in Pakistan’s favour, then that raises quite a few questions.

Keeping the etiquette of the gathering in mind, I listened to his little parting shot and simply smiled.

But on my way back, one question stayed with me:

Why do people become so agitated, so restless, so utterly beside themselves whenever someone says something in favour of Pakistan?

Governments can certainly be disagreed with. There can be legitimate criticism of policies, institutions and political decisions. But on Independence Day, at a gathering celebrating Pakistan, if someone happens to say a few good things about the country, why do some people suddenly develop every possible ailment?

I leave that question with my readers.