The Most Tolerant Nation

Many Pakistanis blame the western media for stereotyping them as a very intolerant nation around the world. It is true that western media is most of the times biased, but it is also true that generally speaking, Pakistanis don’t actually tolerate as much as is required for such a diverse nation. A supporter of Imran Khan seldom tolerates someone supporting Nawaz Sharif. Similarly, supporters of Zardari and Nawaz Sharif won’t ever go along.  A Pakistani Sunni will not like it very much if a Shi’ite even enters his mosque for prayer, and same happens the other way round. So, it is not hard to believe that Pakistanis are, to some extent, intolerant and they need to learn tolerance to become a cultured and progressive nation.

But in some cases, Pakistanis show an exceptional level of tolerance.

On 4^th December, 2011 the government of USA experienced a very intolerant behavior from a nation that happens to be a neighbor of Pakistan. A drone that ‘mistakenly’ violated Iranian airspace was captured by the Iranian authorities. That intolerant nation not only refused to hand over the drone back to the US but also warned them of a ‘crushing response’ if they ever committed that ‘mistake’ again. Clearly, US government wouldn’t have ever thought of such a reaction for just an airspace violation, because they are violating the airspace of the world’s most intolerant nation for almost a decade, and they never got any hostile response. Not only airspace violation, they have been dropping bombs on the Pakistani soil, but Pakistan set an example of unmatched tolerance.

One can’t imagine a group of foreign soldiers entering a country without any permission, conducting a full fledged military operation right inside its territory, and then coming out alive, without even a single shot being fired at them. Its only Pakistan that can tolerate such type of behavior, and it did on 2^nd May, 2011. Such an action inside some other country like Russia, China or Iran would have sparked an armed conflict with the invading nation, but being the representative of a very tolerant nation, the prime minister of Pakistan called it a ‘great victory’. As a matter of fact it was a great failure for Pakistan, to be invaded by a foreign military and to be incapable of detecting the presence of the world’s most wanted man right under their nose.

Apart from the exemplary tolerance of Pakistani government, the people of Pakistan also have a transcendent level of patience. Pakistan is currently being ruled by the most corrupt government of its history. All of the major industries and institutions of the country have collapsed, and power and fuel shortages have become a daily routine. But still, people are the least the government is afraid of. Most interestingly, this government has proven to be ruling for the longest span in the democratic timeline of the country. Had such a government been ruling USA, the Americans would have thrown the president out of the White House within first few months of his presidency. Rather, they wouldn’t have let the most notorious man in their political system become the president in the first place. The people of America started a whole ‘occupy’ movement when they thought their government wasn’t serious about recovering from the current recession, and Pakistanis have been facing recession after recession but still they don’t seem to bother about any sort of ‘occupy’ movement. They are resting in their homes waiting for some miracle to change their life, but miracles don’t happen till the nation as a whole doesn’t strive for it.

Just suppose for a moment, if in USA the government shuts down the fuel supply for three days a week, and raises the price of the alternate fuel to the extent that an average person can’t even think of affording it, would the people still be sitting in their houses, cursing their government? Wouldn’t their government be afraid of its people? Can someone even imagine the reaction of Americans or Russians or some other ‘intolerant’ nation, if their government fails to manage power shortages and forces its people to live without electricity for numerous hours a day?

For more than 60 years Pakistanis have been tolerating one government after another. They tolerate the corruption and selfishness of their democratically elected government and then army seizes power and the people start tolerating the atrocities of the dictator. This only proves that Pakistanis are really good at tolerating, but the problem is that they tolerate what should not be tolerated, and don’t tolerate what should be tolerated. The condition of the country can change within no time if the people someday understand what they are supposed to tolerate, and what they are supposed to rise against. Pakistan will become a very different country if people start tolerating the difference of opinion and point of view, and stop tolerating oppression and corruption.