14th August is a day of stock taking. Sixty-eight years of the country’s history offers us quite little by way of giving a sense of solace and mirth. As a nation, our gains can be counted on fingers while the losses and squandered opportunities are many.

The other day while speaking to members of Islamic Philosophical Congress at Lahore Gymkhana, I shared with them my pessimism, saying that despite the government’s claims to the contrary, I did not see any flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.

Many elderly figures among the audience took exception to my observation. They saw a lot of promise, hope and nothing but light at the far end of the tunnel. Such unequivocal optimism despite all odds must have led Anatol Lieven to confer a peculiar designation to Pakistan -- a ‘Hard Country’. In my opinion, such unflinching optimism acts as a blinker for many Pakistanis, disallowing them to properly analyse the problems confronting Pakistan. Thus, such optimism is misplaced.

So far, the recurrence of calamities, disasters and ruination has failed to break the will and valour of its people. The most disconcerting aspect of the whole thing is failure to apportion blame for all that has plagued Pakistan over the years. The optimism is usually deep-seated in societies where faith in the unknown prevails as a fundamental value. The adversity is understood as an ordeal which is momentary and merely a prelude to an age resplendent with bliss and baraka.

Imbued with hope and optimism, Pakistanis withstood the secession of East Pakistan in 1971 without any remorse. The dismemberment of Pakistan has not been portrayed in any literary form or genre. No film was ever conceived on the subject. These adversities and afflictions notwithstanding, our optimism holds itself uncannily and persistently.

Contemporaneously, the education is in tatters and none of our university figures among the top 500 in the world. Not a single book has been published in the last five years which is internationally noticed. Even the most acclaimed Urdu novels from Aag ka Darya and Gardish-i-Rang-i-Chaman to Kai Chand thay Sar-i-Asman were written and published outside Pakistan. Winning a Noble Prize in the field of literature or science is neither our aspiration nor our aim as it is eloquently articulated by some Urdu columnists. That breed of columnists rave and rant endlessly against the West and anything associated with it, without providing any worthwhile alternative. About healthcare, the less said the better.

Our film industry in a state of utter convulsion is not equipped enough to lay claim to awards like Oscar or Globe. Having descended to virtual extinction, our film industry is trying hard to resurrect itself with very little success. Generally speaking, no art form can ever flourish in a society where a singular ideology has full sway. For that, one needs to have socio-cultural plurality which must be guarded at all costs. The performance of our sportsmen at Olympics speaks volumes about the sad state of affair in that particular field (the recent success of cricket team in Sri Lanka seems more of an aberration than norm).

Steady decline in every field, sports, creative arts or science, is an unpalatable truth which ought to be recognised so that a fair assessment can be drawn and a few things rectified. The human rights record is absolutely dismal in a country torn by sectarian fissures. Religion (or the way religion is being interpreted) is the biggest excuse for killing people.

While talking to graduate students in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Indian journalist M.J. Akbar in response to my criticism on the Indian state made a mocking reference to Pakistan, a country ostensibly created in the name of religion where many more Muslims are being killed by the Muslims themselves, minority groups are vulnerable and the state could not provide any protection to them. He went on to assert that Pakistan is a country where Muslims are most threatened from their brethren in faith. Despite all my differences with M.J. Akbar and the trenchant criticism that he frequently unleashes on Pakistan, one finds it extremely hard to refute his particular assertions.

Indeed, Muslims have not spared Muslims (of divergent sects) in Pakistan. Disorder is ubiquitous and so is violation of traffic rules and no one seems to care. We hear that disorder usually leads to an order, though of a different kind. Ironically in the case of our country, a disorder aggravates and leads to a disorder of higher intensity. To put it simply, in Pakistan disorder begets disorder.

With no signs of any meaningful reforms on the horizon and no space accorded to an alternative ideology where the state is for everyone irrespective of religion, cast and creed, reactionary forces will keep bouncing back to the horror of those who want Pakistan to prosper and thrive. To see Pakistan thriving, we must cultivate a habit to be critical. Misplaced optimism will not do.