Minar e Pakistan to Eifel Tower
By Engr. K. Shahzad • Jul 31st, 2009 • Category: Misc, Worth A Second Look • 13 CommentsBonjour! Minar e Pakistan came in my mind when I was standing on the top of that romantic Eifel tower and looking down at the colorful crowd on the Champ de Mars beside the mystic River Seine in Paris. The mind blowing view of Paris was all around and I was thinking that whether this tower was also a witness to the struggle of French for the movement of liberty, fraternity and equality. Perhaps it was not old enough to testify the French revolution of 1789 but it had definitely seen the French nation working hard to gain democracy and basic human rights from the dictators of various types.
Minar e Pakistan is not much different to Eifel if we categorize both as towers and testifiers of human efforts toward the love of liberty and fraternity but why one ends up to the city of over 10 millions where the countless inhabitant of the city still sleep under the sky in the parks even in the lap of Minar e Pakistan. And worse of all are the examples of attempts of suicides from its top. Why they prefer to kiss death instead of love kisses to their loved ones, as I was seeing all around me, going on between the couples in that shear cold wind. (Not advocating their culture but for illustration only)
It was no doubt that the same place where Muslims from all around India gathered to promise the effort as much as needed to safeguard their interests against the exploitation through colonial rule. And this place was witness to the thousands of sacrifices of lives, property and honors during migration after partition. But what happened afterwards is a mystery. The brothers became the big brothers, dusk emerge in the disguise of dawn.
Those Pakistanis were as sincere to Pakistan as French were to France since centuries and both witnessed the dictatorships in disguise of democracy but probably French were clever than Pakistanis to over through these false and fictitious masks of exploitation from the beautiful face of France. And here it was the face of Paris with this icon, Eifel tower, being visited by over 200 million people till today, means more than population of Pakistan i.e. 160 millions.
Why these Chinese, Japanese, Germans, Americans and other thousands of tourist love to come to see Eifel and not to Minar e Pakistan. Was this huge skeleton of iron more beautiful than our icon of independence? I guess not. Perhaps it’s not the facial beauty; it’s the way to pay homage to the French struggle and hard work over the ages.
But we are also hard working nation then what happened to us; maybe we are not that vigilant nation especially when it comes to check the rulers. We had worked hard in last 69 years but at the end handed over to the few to enjoy luxuries lives on our account. We even didn’t left any roam for the intellectual giants like Voltaire and Rosseu to born and serve their nation through their bold and honest writings.
Her unclipped long hairs were flying on the current of air and blocking my view to the city, from which I didn’t belong and perhaps were saying that “hey you Pakistani had no right to feast your eyes on this splendor unless you had built one of your own”!!!
Au revoir
Note: Writing style Inspired from Mukhtar Masood
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Congratulations Mr.Shahzad.
Excellent writing style and an excellent article.
French were smart enough to follow secularism and “”liberty, fraternity and equality.”"
They understood that total development of human beings are possible ONLY through COMPLETE FREEDOM .
In South Asia we did not understand this.
We allowed RELIGION ,CASTE ,RACE etc get into our way…….and made a mess of our respective countries.
Rousseau wrote:-
“”"”"Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains”"”"”
As long as we remove these above mentioned “chains”…..there is no hope for us……..
“”"”And worse of all are the examples of attempts of suicides from its top. Why they prefer to kiss death instead of love kisses to their loved ones, as I was seeing all around me, going on between the couples in that shear cold wind. (Not advocating their culture but for illustration only)”"”"
Sir,
Rousseau wrote:-
“””””Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains”””””
On a different note, just think about it.
1)They kissed their loved ones WHENEVER WHEREVER.
2)They married divorced and again married MULTIPLE TIMES.
3)Their teenagers LOST VIRGINITY during their teens.
4)They allowed COMPLETE FREE-MIXING between men and women.
5)Their women wear ANYTHING / EVERYTHING / NOTHING as they please.
6)They live with their loved ones WITHOUT MARRIAGE.
7)They think,write and express with COMPLETE INDEPENDENCE without caring for anything……….
And after all these they created a FINE COUNTRY. A FINE CULTURE. A DEVELOPED NATION.
And what we did??????????????????????????
We allow none of them
We put more and more “culture” and “religious” chains around us which CHOKED OUR ABILITIES by our own hands.
Shame on us.
# 1 correction:-
French were smart enough to follow secularism and “”liberty, fraternity and equality” in letter and spirit actually.
The point i am trying to make is:
They allowed COMPLETE FREEDOM of every kind in everything…….and their progress is a by-product of this FREEDOM.
Thank you very much for appreciating the effort BL
I respect your point of view and agreed to it in its most parts but I am sorry that I can’t agree with you in totality. Although, its difficult to illustrate my point of view in short lines of comments but I want to make it clear, when I say development its both in materail and spiritual end.
I am not satisfied on the package deal which one system has to offer us or by the other as every culture has its unique demands in its boundry conditions which should be kept in mind before importing the whole foriegn package.
Liberty, Fraternity and Freedom……Do We Enjoy Any of these in Pakistan or even India???
The Answer: A BIG NO!
And what about Equality? Again a BIG No!
May be we developing countries need a hundred more years to be able to compete with liberal societies!
@5
I agree and say religion allow us to pursue power as much as we need or we are capable of but forbid us to enter into the freedoms of other no matter how much powerful you are, rather encourage compassion by saying that there is a right of poors in your income. Where I take poor as incapable of having one blessing or the others and income I take us capablities.
@ 8
These hundred years could reduce to decades and also prolong to thousands depending on how much effort we sincerely put in.
@8,
We don’t need hundreds of years if a sincere effort to be done. Majority of our population is already liberal and broad minded but unfortunately our masques are in major occupied with less educated and close minded people. who tries to inject hate in the minds of population and the result is infront of you… even taliban were slaughtering males and females in the street of swat but our common man was unintentionally supporting taliban because they thought that they are tru followers and the true followers are like them. Thanks in the end the majority got wisdom and get against them.
France is full of history and we must learn from them that how to run state, how to give rights to every body, how to run good relations with enemies (UK), how to support equality in society… and lot more.
The title is wrong. It should be “Eifel Tower to Minar Pakistan” bcs you were on Eifel Tower and then start thinking for Minar Pakistan. So title should be as per the narration.
Right, but I am illustrating the point that what it takes to develop from Minar e Pak to Eifel
i am very much inspaired from Mr. k.shahzad who has illustrated the topic in few lines very deeply.