One thing many Pakistanis share is an awareness of their national problems. And at least some of their admissions come not like the American variety — where we endlessly blame somebody else. Rather, theirs sound like words one might utter in a confessional.
This editor encountered that humility within hours of arriving in Lahore. “So what did your friends say when you told them you were going to Pakistan?” asked a grinning student. “Did they think you had lost your mind?”
“Exactly,” I said with a laugh.
Actually, the biggest acknowledged shortcoming was the lack of education — noted by professors and students and showcased by educational institutions that dot the cityscape.
Our stay in this city of about 10 million residents centered around the Presbyterian outpost Forman Christian College (see pp. 10ff.). We also visited the Kinnaird Academy for Girls, where we were welcomed by uniformed students of all ages eager to recite a poem or sing a song. It is one of 14 schools sponsored by the Presbyterian Education Board, along with two vocational training centers, six boarding houses and six other projects.
Not to be missed was the Sanjan Nagar School, a beautifully appointed elementary and high school established in one of the poorest and least educated areas of the city, funded mostly by grants and led mostly by Muslims, although 20 percent of its teachers are Christian. Bulletin boards throughout the school proclaim the values of reconciliation, mutual respect and cooperation that also figure so prominently at Forman.
Mueen Afzal is one of the major movers who launched Sanjar Nager. He pours himself into numerous boards of schools and colleges. A friend of Forman’s Rector Peter Armacost, Afzal is an Oxford-educated Lahore native who served in the government of President Pervez Musharraf (himself a Forman graduate) as secretary general for finance and economic affairs.
When we asked how the international recession has impacted Pakistan, Afzal said the effect was minimal. “Our problems are really of our own making,” he confessed. “Partly because of the problems we’ve had with the extremism and the insurgency and the law-and-order issues, which obviously do not boost confidence for investments, especially by foreigners.” He added that double-digit inflation for the past 15 years could be curbed by about a year or so of belt-tightening, “but we haven’t done that.” A humble and intelligent response.
We also spoke with Sartaj Aziz, vice chancellor of Beacon House National University, which was launched eight years ago and now has 1,600 students. He, too, came to an educator’s role after a career in government, doing a stint as foreign minister, and later as finance minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. During that time he helped establish a market economy by abolishing government controls and liberalizing import licensing systems, foreign exchange and credit controls. He also helped strengthen the infrastructure and community organizations for addressing social needs.
He had his own confession to add. “The basic flaw of Pakistan, of course, springs from the fact that we have been under military rule for almost 35 five years of the 65 years we have existed.” Under military rule, he explained, “the executive becomes supreme and it makes parliament subservient, and the judiciary becomes subservient, too — it gives the military what they want.”
When it comes to inter-religious conflicts, both leaders acknowledged the problems with the anti-blasphemy law. Aziz said it most explicitly: “That in my mind is a very bad law. … It’s totally against the basis on which Pakistan is founded, but we do have these religious elements. … We have to address this if we are to progress politically.”
Between their educational pursuits, their self-deprecating humor and their humble, scholarly insights, one can hear inklings of the kind of confession that can lead to reform and, ultimately, to a brighter future. May it be so.
—JHH
