Why are we paying for mistakes we did not make?
A few days back I was chatting away with my mother when she told me something I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. She told me that back in the 1990’s when she was a student living in the hostel, the girls would leave the gas stoves in the kitchen turned on for the whole night because it was too ‘inconvenient’ to turn them on again and again.
Let’s do some quick math, shall we? This was the kitchen of one floor in a hostel building that had multiple floors. The university had at least 4-5 multi-storied hostel buildings. Multiply the number of stoves remaining on all the time with the number of universities and colleges throughout Pakistan. We can’t determine the exact number, but you get my point, right?
When natural gas was discovered back in 1952, it was believed that Pakistan is so resource rich that we’d never run out of gas, so why bother turning the stoves off? Today households in Pakistan experience gas shortages ranging from 3 to over 10 hours a day. Some houses in Karachi and other parts of Sindh are unable to prepare suhoor and iftaar owing to these shortages. In fact, PIDE reports that OGDCL predicts Pakistan will run out of indigenous fuel resources by 2025[1].
A similar story can be narrated about any resource imaginable – water, food, clean air – you name it! Today, Pakistan is characterized as one of the most ‘water-stressed’ countries in the world on the basis of available water per capita. Our country also makes it to the top ten in the list of countries most vulnerable to climate change every year. A traditionally agricultural country has become a net food importer, with people having to choose between their lives and a bag of flour!
Long story short – today Pakistan has run out of pretty much every resource necessary to sustain human life. The saddest part is that those who have to bear the consequences of this have no fault in creating this crisis!
Every Pakistan child is born with a debt of PKR 216,08[2]. ‘Debt’ they a) did not take and b) provided them with no benefit. As the child grows older and starts going to school (if they are lucky enough for that, of course), they start dreaming of how they will serve the country when they grow up. The ‘privileged’ few who actually manage to graduate from universities are hit with the painful realities of how scarce job opportunities are, or how limited the available options are for individuals to actually serve their country. The doctors cannot find jobs without connections, the engineers don’t have access to the technologies of the modern age, the businessmen cannot find investors, the manufactures cannot get uninterrupted gas supplies, the intellectuals are not allowed to publish their papers and the economists are not allowed to uncover structural challenges.
The mistakes of the previous generations have given birth to a generation of frustrated Pakistani youngsters, born in an era where they have access to news from the whole world but are unable to replicate anything of the sort in their own country. The kids that went to school with dreams of bringing a change are now looking for ways to get out of the country. I personally know many young people – highly educated and extremely smart – who wanted to put in their energies and skills for the improvement of the country until a couple of years back, now trying to leave due to the dearth of opportunities and decision making autonomy.
What is more is that the same people who belong to the generations that brought Pakistan to the resource-starved state it is in today, are still the ones holding all decision making positions and continue making the same mistakes. We are still investing in thermal power projects despite the abundance of research showing the feasibility of wind and solar energy in terms of cost and sustainability. We are still making our students cram in order to pass their exams even as the world moves to application based learning. We are still boasting over the increase in the number of private cars despite the impact it creates on our economy and environment rather than focusing on quality public transport. One can write essays on the absurdity of decisions being taken.
The point is – young people in Pakistan did not deserve the state in which they got the country. We grew up being taught that “Allah blessed Pakistan with abundance of natural resources”, but we could not find them anywhere. We have been brought to a point where we feel guilty for having water in our taps, gas in our stoves and fruits on our tables because we know millions are unable to afford this. The basic necessities in life have become privileges for us. We are being made to pay for 75 years’ worth of mistakes – literally and figuratively.
I haven’t even mentioned the lack of security of life and property, the curbs on freedom of speech, the forced disappearances, and the multitude of social problems and political grievances in this piece. So the next time you say “the youth today just wants to leave the country”, ask yourself why they wouldn’t want to.
[1] Reference: https://pide.org.pk/research/gas-crisis-in-pakistan/
[2] Reference: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2398242/per-person-debt-jumps-by-21
The author is a Management Sciences major from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and an aspiring civil servant with a knack for writing.
I’d love for boomers to read this piece and maybe think twice before passing snarky remarks next time because the youth doesn’t want to leave, the youth is being put in situations where it’s impossible to stay. This was a really engaging read and I’m looking forward to seeing more of your pieces.
Very well articulated!
Excellent article! Regarding the education system, I feel like there is emphasis on copying/cheating as well as cramming. Students in other countries do cheat in exams but it has harsh consequences. But if you have enough money influence/power/money you can get away with almost anything. This creates an environment where motivated, driven and ambitious people are forgotten about and feel drained.
Wonderful point, Rida! Even in the most prestigious institutes of Pakistan, cheating and other unfair means have become so common. I’ve actually seen people from my university batch who would come to the exams/tests unprepared because they knew that their preparation wouldn’t matter as favouritism and cheating are going to ruin the results anyway. The situation post COVID-19 is even worse.
It’s disheartening to see so many young people in Pakistan are yearning to leave their homeland. However, it’s not hard to understand why they feel this way, given the many challenges they face, from political instability to economic uncertainty. We can just pray to see a better Pakistan in coming decade for our next generation (if they grow up here) but that too seem a fictional story now.
You’re right, the daily news coming from the country, be it politics, economy or the state of law and order are just unfortunate.
Thoroughly researched and very well written! Looking forward to reading more of these articles.
Your article accurately captures the disillusionment that we face as young adults. However, not everyone has similar concerns. For example, from what I have experienced, the majority dreams of cars and big houses, not realizing how unsustainable such a model is for the country. They simply aren’t aware of the depleting gas or groundwater resources. So to me, it isn’t just the ‘boomers simply not getting it’, it also includes the young generation who’re simply not aware of the challenges that we’re faced with as a country. Everyone’s used to freebies that were doled out during Musharraf’s era or the Dar’s rupee-dollar peg, and because those ‘freebies’ were only enough to sustain a moderate lifestyle (in contrast to oil-rich lifestyles in the Gulf region), many simply don’t recognize it as such. This only exacerbates the hopelessness as people still dream of the same old unsustainable lifestyles that we’ve kept up for so long which has run the country dry and debt-ridden. The upshot and the worst part is that whoever takes the painful measures to reroute the country towards a path of sustainable living, they’d become unpopular politically. Anyways, the problem is much deeper when we realize how the powerful military leadership itself lives in a bubble of sprawl-based infrastructure and aren’t willing to give space to political leaders who may affect their ways of living.
On the other hand, not everyone is trying to move abroad is doing so permanently. At least for me, and some others that I know of, the reason for moving abroad is simply to have relevant industrial experiences that aren’t possible in Pakistan, a network of individuals, and financial capital, to possibly invest back into the country either through investments, business startups, etc. So it shouldn’t be viewed as negatively because not everyone is doing it permanently. There are many people who still believe in the country despite the challenges it faces, and I believe they’d be the ones who’d play a major role in taking the country out of this mess. However, for this, good leadership is required. If people like Imran Khan are eliminated from the political arena, then even the people who want to make a difference would lose all hope in this country.
P.S: you can improve the contrast of the text (at least on the desktop website, the colors are hard to read for the sidebars). Good luck for your new blog!
Thank you so much for this really comprehensive comment. I love the points that you’ve raised.
Yes, what I was mentioning is just one of the aspects of a multi-layered issue. You’re right, many of the young people are so blissfully ignorant of the realities of the country, it’s saddening to witness. The brand-consciousness is another unfortunate element of the point you mentioned about the luxury cars and houses. Many highly educated people still focus on how the increased imports of high-end goods would bring a top-down growth, without realising how this import-led economy is damaging our whole country and making it impossible for many to simply afford meals. And yes, spot on with the point about the freebies. As a nation, we’d rather have ourselves drown deeper in foreign debts than to carry out the painful steps that would take us away from dependence towards sustainability.
Lastly, yes we desperately need better people in the political arena. Keeping my hopes up till we have educated people like Hammad Azhar, Sania Nishtar etc. Let’s hope they’re able to come back and are allowed to work freely. I’m completely open to further discussion on this. In fact, you’ve got really well thought out arguments, why don’t you write a blog post? Would love to read it!
(Thanks for pointing out the contrast bit, will fix it)
Very well written. It’s short and yet covers all main points.
People need to understand that today’s youth is not happily leaving this country rather they are forced to leave because of its present conditions 🙁
Thank you Raima! Here’s hoping we get to actually fix the underlying problems so that the upcoming generations are not forced to leave.
My first comment on your first article. A few years back, if I had read this article, I would’ve simply termed it as a proof of growing pessimistic tendencies in our youth. Just like so many of my age, I would’ve smirked that “all-knowing” smile, would’ve jerked my neck in disdain and would’ve uttered the same sentence that has become almost the national sentence of our country during last 20 years or so … “kya ho gya hey hamari neyee nasal ko?”
Without a doubt, this would’ve been my reaction a few years ago…. but today, as I read this article with a lump of sadness in my throat, I have no other option but to appreciate your honesty, acclaim your articulation and totally empathise with you and every other member of your age.
One more thing that I have to (willingly or unwillingly) do is to throw my head down and apologize each and every youngster of Pakistan out there. The era you mentioned in your article (the one when we didn’t have to turn off the stoves), that’s exactly the era I grew up; I was a teenager back then. We were so caught up with the romanticism of living in a “Blessed Country” that we totally forgot that every blessing comes with a responsibility. We were so contended on the conjured optimism in our “Mutala-e-Pakistan” books that we totally ignored the universal principals of success and prosperity.
As a result of this negligence, mine became the second consecutive generation of the country that started accepting every corrupt practice as a norm; that started believing in the notion that if someone is being corrupt they are just spoiling their own Akhirat and we had no role to play in stopping the growing fiasco. Its this part of our unfortunate history when obnoxious phrases like “khaata hey tau lagaata bhi tau hey” started becoming a cliche. The momentum we provided to this rapidly diminishing morality of our society, eventually started proving toxic and has eventually lead us to the edge of our survival as a nation.
Having said and accepted all this, I still applause the growing awareness and courage among our youth (despite all this growing negativity), as I see you guys challenging the status quo by initiating debates and discussions that the previous two generations had termed “taboo”.
I totally understand why most of the kids are running out of excuses to live in this country and to serve it, but I also know that the “holy cows” of our society have started running for shelter because of this increasing awareness; I know the shackles have been broken; I know we have taken giant strides towards dragging our wounded existence out of the dungeons of slavery and into the healing meadows of integrity and honor. So my humble call to the youth would be to “HANG ON” for a while as the light of freedom has started showing at the end of the tunnel and we (though gasping for breath) are running towards the exit from this darkness (Inn Shaa Allah)
I can write for days on this topic, but today, as I read this article, I just raise my hands towards Heavens and Pray that the illumination of freedom is achieved before we finally have to “turn off the stove”. Ameen Ya Rab Al Aalameen
I really enjoyed this piece and how comprehensively it was put. Another point I’d like to add is that even though our generation has not been the culprit for the present circumstances, most of us have still not learned from the mistakes that have costed us so much. Water being a prime example. While most of us have heard about the impending water crises, not only are we not taking any measures to decelerate it, we are ignorantly wasting whatever water we have.
Does your blog have a contact page? I’m having problems locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an email. I’ve got some recommendations for your blog you might be interested in hearing.
Hey! Thanks for reaching out. You can drop your message on our “Contact Us” page (https://www.theyouthblog.com/contact-us/) or drop an email at theyouthblogpk@gmail.com
Hello there! This blog post couldn’t be written much better!
Reading through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He always kept preaching about this. I am going to send this post to him.
Fairly certain he’s going to have a very good read. I appreciate you for sharing!