By Maryam Baig 
      3rd yr.

                    
                         Its one thing to study Iqbal's poetry during your early classes(as a part of your curriculum,ofcourse);another to fall in love with it till it comes to haunt your dreams and just another to grow up listening to your mother quoting "zara nam hou tou yeh mitti bari zarkhaiz hai saqi" time and again with a faith that never fails to stand up in support of its people;with a confidence that never surrenders itself even to the darkest hours,with a light of love and devotion that never fades away even at watching your countrymen being brutally butchered by none other than your own people.

                        For me growing up means IDEALISM CRASHING DOWN TO THE FLOOR!!It means actually passing through the stage when i would race across my home to the door to be the first one to get my hands on the newspaper in the morning and then scan its almost each and every line and then reaching to the stage when the very sight of newspaper irritates me because even without giving it a glance i know deep down in my heart what awaits there for me.YESSS,i know all of them,...all those empty promises made by our dear politicians,those stories of sect arguments,those drone attacks,those brutal killings which are just a new form of our social insensitivity.YES,I KNOW THEM ALL!!

                        So where is the NAM MATTI that Iqbal promised?where is the beacon of light that my mother always places her faith in??WHERE IS IT??WHERE IS IT?? Sorry Pakistan, but sometimes pessimism envelopes you so tightly that every last hope seems to get strangled and die away and everything becomes an utter doubt.

                        But for the past few months my train of thoughts have been reversed.i have been given something to believe in;a straw to catch at for my drowning hopes,a life for the patriotism that was decaying in darkness...yes,it has completed my search for THE ZARKHAIZ MATTI!! Oh,there is something still out there which is worth holding on to.

                        Zardari may have his ten percent,Mr.X may have all his Swiss accounts and foreign properties but I HAVE MY PEOPLE!! I bet Pakistanis are the best people in the world.These aggressive and easily aroused souls with the blood of those who sacrificed their lives for this land running through their veins are NOT DEAD YET!!!! Oh yes,they are not!And with the floods hitting us it was quite proved. IT is heart-rending to see your countrymen loosing everything to the floods,but it is even more heartening to see your people rushing head over heels to help them.IF WE CAN STAND UP TO THIS,WE CAN STAND UP TO ANYTHING!!!

                          These are people living around you,dropping items to stalls in the greenbelts,depositing money in PUKAAR'S account,people organizing and running SPWS and IFMSA relief camps,people sacrifising their eid joys to help their people,those little hands offering their pocket moneys to see happiness light up the faces of the affected,and EVEN PROFESSIONAL BEGGARS!!!These are YOUR PEOPLE,this is YOU,THIS IS PAKISTAN!!This is IQBAL'S ZARKHAIZ MATTI,this is what QUAID-E-AZAM considered WORTH FIGHTING FOR,this is the BEACON OF LIGHT,this is YOU PAKISTAN,this is SOMETHING WORTH DYING FOR!!!!!!

                           No matter how hard a shell you walk wearing around you,there is patriotism hidden right down in your core.No matter if you bluff,if you cheat in exams,if you run red lights on road and turn your back to what the reality is;there is still something pure and unworldly about you.So GO PAKISTAN!!Please don't stop here.You have got a long way to go ahead but i just know somehow NO MATTER HOW HARD THE WIND BLOWS YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH,INSHALLAH!!!Strenghten youself,give others something to believe in,something to hold on to; because Zardari or no Zardari,YOU ARE MEANT FOR SOMETHING MORE THAN THIS!!..There is no stopping such people....GOOOO PAKISTAN!!LONG LIVE PAKISTAN!!!!!!!!!!