Holidayland Is The New Name Of Pakistan!

When Chaudhary Rehmat Ali came up with the name of Pakistan, he was told that the country will give Muslims a chance to evolve as a separate nation, and that Islam would be the way of life, as well as the state religion. What he didn’t know was that the country would be ruled by the elite, where the poor would stay poor and where holidays and protests would dominate the calendar. Had he known that, he would have known the country Holidayland!

According to KK Aziz’s The Murder of History, we have been celebrating Pakistan Day a day earlier ever since the creation of the country. The Pakistan Resolution was passed at Manto Park on 24^th March, and not on 23^rd as we have been made to believe. In fact, people from all over United India assembled in Lahore that day and the resolution was passed a day later. Similarly, we don’t have a Labour Day in the country where Labours can rest and enjoy the day with their families. In fact on 1^st May each year, all labours are on duty and they take out rallies to commemorate the day, which is not a tribute but an insult to those who were martyred in Chicago for advocating eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.

There are a lot of useless public holidays we have in Pakistan that can be avoided in the first place. No one really knows why we had to observe Kashmir Day for the first time on 5^th February 1990, because nearly 23 years later, Kashmir is still under the Indian rule and there is no chance that it would be free any soon. Similarly, in a nation that doesn’t observe a national day on the death of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah (11^th September), why do we have a day off on the death anniversary of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the very leader who had his share in the destruction of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh)!

The birthday of Shayar-e-Mashriq Allama Iqbal falls on 9^th November each year, but nobody is really sure whether it would be a working day or not until the 8^th November, such is the indecisiveness of the government. Either make the day a public holiday or not, because his contribution was more than that of the assassinated Benazir Bhutto whose death anniversary is celebrated on 27^thDecember each year! Then there are the Urs of many Sufi saints which keep schools closed for no reason. The Sufi Saints were all for learning and by keeping the students away from learning on their death anniversary seems really awkward!

And finally we come to the biggest joke of our lives – protesting against the government. It is just like America protests against the Drone Attacks on Pakistan, Britain royalty protests against the Monarchy or Israel calling for an end against the attacks on Palestinians. ‘Protest at all costs’ seems to be the slogan of Muttahida Qaumi Movement – one of the ruling parties in the country. They have been in power since the turn of the century and can even boast of a long-serving governor in Dr. Ishratul Ibad Khan. So why do they protest with the Hazara people, or agree to be part of the long march (before backing out) when they are part of the problem, rather than part of the solution. Either they think that the entire nation is stupid or they want to make themselves available for the next elections where they will win as many seats as the last time and then engineer their way back into the corridors of power.

Whatever be their agenda, their constant protests often give the impression of a strike and it is the very people they are supposed to serve who are affected the most. When they ask for a peaceful protest or a sit in, people just don’t dare to go out because they know the consequences very well. The fans and followers of MQM might agree to disagree but children don’t get to go to schools the day they call for a protest, transporters don’t bring their cars on the road for the fear of losing them, and working people fear for their safety even if they somehow manage to reach their offices. Add to that the suspension of mobile services and ban on pillion riding and you get the perfect case of what chaos and anarchy could be like.

What we can do is ask ourselves a question: Do we really need this many holidays? Does the public holidays really help the public or not? I certainly don’t agree because out of the 365 days a year, the more days we sit at home and relax, the more the gap between Pakistan and the rest of the world increases. And if that keeps on happening, there would come a time when we would be far far behind the rest of the world, with little or no chance of recuperating.