Between Worlds

It is a tough job being a Pakistani in 2015. The country is known globally for all the wrong reasons. From terrorism, religious extremism to political instability, Pakistan has been called the most dangerous country in the world. In this supposedly most dangerous country exist people who have aspirations and hopes that are not that dissimilar to the rest of the world. More importantly most of us do not conflate our identity with being anti-Indian. India is Pakistan’s near abroad and the home of Bollywood which most Pakistanis are hooked on to. Through the book, the author attempts to forge meaning of the events around us. No reasonable person can deny that there is a lot with Pakistan today. Unlike India, Pakistan constitutionally discriminates against its minorities. This the author argues is at variance to the vision that Mohammad Ali Jinnah had for Pakistan. Jinnah’s vision of Pakistan was an inclusive and democratic state; a Muslim majority version of India. Pakistan has strayed far from that original pluralistic vision. In the case of Ahmadis, who ironically had been the most enthusiastic supporters of the Pakistan idea, the constitutional discrimination has taken an ugly turn. Their very rights as citizens have brought under a question mark. This is the result of appeasement by Pakistan’s ruling elites, who have allowed extremist groups, militant and otherwise, grab hold of the narrative and define Pakistan and indeed Pakistani at narrowly.