Proud to be a Pakistani While we were about to board the Southern China airlines’ plane on way to Urumqi from Islamabad, after a thorough scan and body-search at the counters, the entire Chinese crew stepped down from the plane and physically searched every passenger and the hand baggage anew, as if not trusting our authorities and us. Outside a hotel in Shanghai, a taxi driver asked where I had come from and as I told Pakistan. He said “boom boom” and then faked emotions depicting horror. In a trip to Istanbul, my family asked to have “desi” food. And we were told that close to Taksim square was “Musafir Indian restaurant.” While having food, I had a chat with the owner and I asked as to where he belonged to. “Udaipur” was his reply. Then he asked about me and when I told him that I had come from Pakistan, he informed that his family was settled in Lahore. “How come, you are an Indian” I asked. “Actually my grandfather had migrated from Udaipur” he answered. And I wondered, will nobody come to a restaurant with the name and style of “Musafir Pakistani restaurant”? A very dear friend of mine, settled in Northern Europe has an Afghan wife. He occasionally visits Kabul. And his in-laws have strictly told him not to disclose that he is a Pakistani. “Just tell them you are an Indian” they have advised. “People here hate Pakistanis like anything” he has been told. It was soon after 9/11 when a close friend from Lahore boarded a train at New York’s Penn station that an announcement was made on the public address system warning the passengers to keep an eye on anybody who looked suspicious. To his utter embarrassment, all the passengers at once looked towards my Pakistani friend. A Bangladeshi and an Indian, known to me, told that they were so keen to visit Pakistan. However, they both then showed their apprehension on the same issue. “Will we be able to get visa of a Western country if our passport bears the visa stamp of Pakistan? They then informed that it was common perception. My daughter applied for a German scholarship. And to get some information I contacted an old German lady who happens to be a Facebook friend. She strongly discouraged me to send my daughter to Germany for according to her; a marked shift has taken place in the attitudes of German people regarding Pakistanis after a number of terrorist attacks which were traced back to Pakistan. With effect from today i.e.1st June 2014 every Pakistani, before he or she boards an international flight is required to be administered polio drops or he or she would be denied entry even in Quatro de Fevereiro International, at Luanda in the Republic of Angola. And friends in Jeddah told me that all those coming from Malaysia Bangladesh, Brunei etc and any other Muslim country get immediate clearance on the counters, while Pakistanis are cleared only after a thorough physical search, examination of documents and complete satisfaction of the immigration authorities. While on a short course in South Korea, on the very first day, while all the participants from various countries were introducing themselves, I stood up on my turn. I uttered my name and then the country of my origin i.e. Pakistan… And then suddenly it so happened that I transformed into a bearded terrorist, wearing a suicide vest, about to blow myself up and everybody around! And all those present in that hall appeared horrified. Standing out, as if fully exposed before peace-loving people from other countries, in a confused state of mind I wondered: Is that what I am or is that the way I am looked at all over the world? Waseem Altaf
Posted on: Sun, 01 Jun 2014 21:30:40 +0000
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