What are we cheering up for?

Mr. Sadiq Khan became the first Muslim mayor of London and this news was broken as major headline especially on Pakistani media as his father was a Pakistani immigrant bus driver. Looking closely at the tempo of information storming, there was a feeling as if a Pakistani has won London Mayor-ship. Sentences like “Englishmen used to rule whole world from London but now its biggest ruler will be of Pakistani origin” were a norm. Such news about achievements of Pakistani origin or dual nationality persons are greatly highlighted in our media and some people cheer such triumphs as their own wins. But do such accomplishments really mean anything to us?

In past, famous British boxer Amir Khan’s wins have been treated as if a Pakistani has won whereas in reality he is representing Britain for all his fights. Many take professional success of British singer Zayn Malik integrated with popular looks/style as a Pakistani hit due to his Pakistani background. Similar celebrations have been noted while dual nationals such as Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chenoy and Ms. Nergis Mavalvala achieved respective milestones.

Coming back to Sadiq Khan, can anybody please review his manifesto and figure out what good he is going to do for Pakistan being a London Mayor?  What does Pakistan benefits from him being a London mayor? If the answer is NOTHING; then why and what are we celebrating for him??? He will surely be working to raise London and Londoners as their elected representative; not for Karachi or Quetta.

In the midst of many of my friends and acquaintances getting foreign nationalities and existing dual nationals, I have observed the nationality crisis and other things tied with it.  How can anybody be loyal to Pakistan and any other country at the same time; there are pauses and uncertainty while you discuss various interlinked ideological, moral and social factors with  Pakistani Americans or British Pakistanis etc. Condition of next generation is more miserable as they get disconnected from Pakistani society and the foreign society never accepts them completely. Individuals’ use their foreign passport status on their CV’s to attract employers and keep Pakistani passports also as an option when and wherever required. I firmly believe that Pakistan must BAN dual nationality to avoid such confused states of mind and clearly define Pakistani citizenship criterion. Either you are a Pakistani or you are a foreigner, nothing dual nothing mixed/in between; a clear approach will resolve many things for sure.

The purpose of writing this article is certainly not to de-value achievements of Sadiq Khan and such others but to seriously re-consider if we are celebrating a real thing? The main question is why people leave Pakistan and run behind other nationalities? What factors in Pakistan stops people to magnify their true potential? Why not correct our own system so brilliant individuals do not run behind other nationalities and bring such a time where there are no suffixes or prefixes to success stories; a time to celebrate genuine Pakistanis. Instead of celebrating such individuals whose forefathers ONCE belonged to Pakistan and now their off-springs are satisfying western interests; why not glorify our very own heroes who do not search for other passports and put all their energies to raise our Sabz Halali (Green flag) only?

Note:
This article has been published on 14th MAy,2016 at following websites:

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