ALI SUKHANVER

Life is a simple game of three moments; one which belonged to us; one which we own now and the one which is expected to be ours; the past, the present, and the future. Successful are those who keep looking back at their yesterday and intelligent are those who are always conscious of their tomorrow but the luckiest ones are those who try to make their present everlasting provided that their presence is something to be proud of: we the Pakistanis are surely among those luckiest ones. For the last many years this prediction is selling hot that Pakistan is going to be no more on the world map in the near future. But every year Pakistan is always there, giving a tough time to all those who are dreaming of Pakistan changing into a wasteland. Pakistan has become the center of all concentration in a very short period of time. This matchless importance is simply because of the fact that the world around us has accepted the reality that Pakistanis have an exemplary ability of sailing in troubled waters.

It is a daylight fact that Pakistanis can achieve any target if they are determined. Moreover, they have a talent for helping out and support all those who are being crushed and trampled by the powerful ones. From the Indian Occupied Kashmir to Palestine and to the East-Punjab, Pakistan is everywhere admired and loved by the crushed ones and looked at like a savior. It is the height of this admiration that for the last many weeks, different cities of India are resounding with slogans in favour of Pakistan. According to Indian media reports, the protesting farmers are raising pro-Pakistan slogans during their protest-processions. Recently a video clip has also gone viral in which a man is apparently seen raising the pro-Pakistani slogan ‘Pakistan Zindabad (Live Long Pakistan). Commenting on this strange development, the Jagran News Desk said, Amid farmers, Delhi Chalo March, Punjab’s Lok Insaaf Party MLA Simarjit Singh Bains is also seen in the clip when a man allegedly raised pro-Pakistani slogans.” Some analyst are of the opinion that this video clip could be a ploy to derail the farm protests and make it look like a Pakistani agenda to create unrest in the country on one hand and on the other hand it could be a conspiracy of getting an opportunity of defaming and blaming Pakistan.

The farmers in India are protesting against the three farm laws approved by the Modi government earlier this year. These laws are — The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act. These laws were first introduced in the month of last June as the three Ordinances and later on were approved by Parliament in September. The protesters say that the new laws will make them vulnerable to private traders whereas the government says that the farm laws would open up new avenues for the farmers to increase their income. The leaders of the protesting farmers are of the opinion that by approving these laws the government has simply shifted all responsibility of the agriculture sector to the hands of the private investors. These investors would exploit the helpless farmers and would try to earn more and more by depriving the farmers of their basic legal and moral rights. Now the government and the farmers are in a state of war with each other, and neither of them is willing to step down. The protesters are now in an effort of reaching and blocking the whole system of the national capital Delhi but for the Modi ‘sarkar’ this advancement of the protesters is nothing to be worried about; it is worried only about the raised slogans in favor of Pakistan and Khalistan. Whether the clamor of the slogans in favour of Pakistan is a conspiracy of the opposition parties or the hidden sympathy and inclination of the protesting farmers towards Pakistan; the most interesting fact is that these slogans have introduced Pakistan as a towering lighthouse of care and support. Today all over the world wherever there is a reference to the protest of farmers in India; the reference to the slogan of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ also moves along.

That was mid-1999, I still remember the evening, when I was introducing myself to a pretty German girl in Australia; I am from Pakistan and she asked me in a surprisingly strange way where Pakistan is. I, again, wish to meet the same girl; I am sure now I won’t have to tell her where Pakistan is; because it is all changed now. We have defeated a whole generation of foreign supported terrorists; we have very successfully countered the interference of hostile intelligence agencies in our country; we have crushed Indian dreams in Afghanistan; we have overcome a lot of our economic problems, and above all, we have overpowered the horrible pandemic of Covid-19 by controlling the number of deaths. Today the name of Pakistan is being referred to as an example in every discussion on the Corona disaster. Thanks a lot to Mr.Modi for making the Indian farmers realize that from the Indian Occupied Kashmir to the trampled Sikh community and to the helpless farmers of India, Pakistan is always a ray of hope for all those passing through some trial and tribulation.