I am not proud to be a Pakistani

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That is a powerful line, that. “I am not proud to be a Pakistani” sends a very strong message indeed. If I say this, you are thinking, “OK so this guy is sick of one or the other aspect of the society that we all feel bad about. And has taken his feelings perhaps a bit too far,” or something like that.

So what is the counter to that feeling? You say “I am proud to be a Pakistani”.

Did you get it? No? Thought so.  Let me try again.

Quite some time back, there  was this sudden surge of badly printed t-shirts that had ‘Proud to be Pakistani” written on them. You’d see a fair amount of people wear them, from your average Bashir (our generic version of average Joe, of course) to celebrities like Shoaib Akhtar etc. Here’s what this shirt is actually saying:

I know that you wouldn’t be proud of being a Pakistani, but hey, guess what, I am. I am proud to be a Pakistani.

What the hell? Is that’s how it is now? You already assume that people think you ought to be shameful of being a Pakistani, as if you have something to hide. Much like a little girl blabbering out to her Mother, “No mommy, I didn’t eat that chocolate cake,” without the mommy even asking. That’s guilt written all over it. Heck, it is gawddamned understood that I belong to this place, it is called Pakistan, the flag’s green and white with a crescent moon and a star, and no, our flags don’t really have Mickey Mouse on ‘em or anything. This place right here, this place right here is my country, my home and my two by two or four by four or whatever. This is me and I don’t need to tell you that I own it.

P.S. Wearing yourcountry’s flag’s colors on your person is not the same thing, people. That shows association and nothing wrong with that. Boasting your flag on your blog or ‘Going Green’ is all good, as it is an exercise in assimilation. Saying something like ‘Proud to be a Pakistani’ just does not cut it, folks. I have more than one foreigner poke mild fun at these so-called ‘slogans’, and that only proved what I had been saying, stop being so defensive, find the truth and stand by it.