Moving Forward
By Dr Ghulam M Haniff
St. Cloud, Minnesota
The Muslim community, in which the Pakistanis constitute an integral part, have remained forward-looking and have generally been productive. When the Muslims and Pakistanis first surfaced in 1950s they created an organization which has subsequently spread to the campuses around the nation. It is called the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and fifty years later it is still active and on the go.
Those who played a crucial role in the formation of that body eventually returned to Pakistan. They were all on student visas and had to return and could not stay back to nurse their new organization.
A decade later, another organization emerged out of MSA called the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). It has been and continues to be the representative body of the Muslims in the United States. The readers of this newsmagazine are familiar with its annual conventions and other conferences held across the nation. Most of the founders were students who had completed their studies at the highest level. However, some decided to go back and devote their energies for the development of their nations.
In the early nineties yet another organized came to the surface called the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) which took the responsibility for serving as the advocacy group for the Muslims. This too was founded by the students and as of now has become a complex body.
A fourth group called the American Muslim Council (AMC) was put together though it could not find proper leadership to run it with care. After a few years it foundered and became defunct. No one could revive the body though several tried.
Running an organization is a tough job. It requires a lot of time, patience, and the ability to raise funds continuously. Muslims have had hard time running organizations though several have caught on.
The Indians next door have done a better job of creating and managing organizations largely because of their exposure to democratic ideas. In this country Indians have well over 150 organizations, most of them, well organized and well managed.
However, they are also great participants in civil society to the extent that they have become proficient in their volunteering commitments. Pakistanis on the other hand have copied the “back home model” (threats with pointed AK-47) that has nothing to offer. Voluntary participation is essential to become a part of the society that in turn may justify an individual for a job.
Because of their participation as volunteers they now occupy some of the very important positions in the administration and are also considered to be both intelligent and skilled. An occasional Pakistani may be included but much below the proportion of their numbers.
Their past history includes high caliber of people, such as M. K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, both original in their ideas and people of extraordinary vision. In the contemporary times there is Manmohan Singh unlike any of the Pakistani politicians. He knows that corruption is a problem in the country and he is doing something about it. That is definitely not the case of the Pakistani politicians.
Pakistanis in cooperation with others created those organizations mentioned previously but have not done much to using them for the positive good. They have not even invited prominent leaders to give them publicity so the exposure generated may be exploited. The ideas produced could have been used but the Muslims have remained indifferent to them.
The Indians have their own entourage of luminaries which they have used very wisely. Several Indian luminaries are Nobel Laureates, at the last count they numbered around five. Several more are movie stars or producers, many writers to say nothing of the television personalities. Included among these are Fareed Zakaria who is on television weekly, so is Sanjay Gupta and Hari Sreenivasan. Rajiv Chandrasekaran is another journalist appearing in both print and electronic media. He is also a writer and a novelist. There are many others at the regional level though they appear at the national level occasionally.
Pakistan has yet to produce comparable individuals. No one among the Pakistani expatriates seems to be in the same league as those named above. It is to be noted that one organization, APPNA (its current acronym escapes me), has excelled in entertainment, largely of sub-continental variety, and in the consumption of sumptuous biryani! Not bad.
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