Is Pakistan Safe? part 2

Pakistan has always been negatively portrayed in the media. This continuous bombardment of misinformation has somehow influenced my perception towards Pakistan. I was expecting my arrival here to be wished by turban wearing jihadis holding rifles and guns.

Nonetheless, what I saw was a stark difference. Even at the airport, I saw fathers and mothers holding beautiful flower garlands anxiously waiting for their sons who might be returning to meet them after spending months and maybe years overseas working. There were these restless children whom from their eyes you can see how much that they have missed their fathers. I saw how closely knitted their family relationships were, that the whole family awaits for their beloved ones at the arrival gate.

My drive towards the hotel was no difference. My friends got a bit annoyed when I kept on telling them to see this and that on that drive. I simply could not believe my eyes. What I had in my mind about Pakistan was shattered within minutes.

When we stopped at traffic lights, you will be amazed how the roadside sellers sprung into action rushing towards the cars and motorbikes waiting. They sell all kinds of things. Ranging from coconut flesh which is cut nicely in triangular shape, kids toys, car screen protector, car mat and many more. I have seen the items that they sell changes based on the season. These items I mentioned above are sold during summer, whereas in winters they will be selling flowers, shawl, snow caps, hand gloves and so on. Many of these sellers are there with their family. Mother might be sitting somewhere nursing her baby while her children who are old enough to reach the car’s window are out there on the streets selling things. There were also scenes of people asking for money. All these are remote experiences for me.

As we moved further to the inner city, I saw lots of lights along the road. I thought Pakistan was having an electricity shortage. How can they afford to have such decorative lights along the roads? There were high rise offices. Beautiful buildings and I also noticed a luxury housing area which hosts majestic mansions. Roads looked more structured with properly managed roadsides. Never I imagined to see lots of flyovers.

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Still, the sight of the hawkers peddling fruits and vegetables sunk my heart. In this bustling city, they are still living their life depending on a donkey cart. While we are talking about industrial revolution 4.0 with robots taking over human jobs, these people are still stranded by the roadsides living their lives on a day to day basis. This is how diverse Pakistan is. It is advanced in the sense that it produces some of the world renowned programmers and home to high valued startups such Zameen.com valued at almost USD 80 mil while it is also frozen in the past with donkey carts businesses.

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I recall once a touching experience that happened to me with a fruit seller on a donkey cart. I was walking on the street when I saw one ‘chacha’ (uncle) who looked exhausted and he was selling mangoes on his donkey cart. It was summer and the sun was blazing and standing outside in this weather is a challenge by itself. I estimated that he might be in his late sixty. His salwar khamis looked worned out. His white hair and the long white beard looked unattended.

“Shabbir, let’s buy some ‘chaunsa’ ( a type of mango) from that chacha” I told Shabbir while walking towards the chacha.
“Yes sir” Shabbir’s usual confusing reply. “How many ‘dujen’ sir?” What is dujen? I told him I want to buy Manggo. “Shabbir,I want that Manggo, not dujen”. I reiterated. “Ok sir, but how many you want, one dujen or two dujen”. Shabbir clarified. Acha, he was asking how many dozen as maybe the chacha is selling in numbers and not by weight. “Dho” (two) I answered.
As we arrived at the chacha’s cart, Shabbir spoke to him while checking the mangoes, maybe he was getting assurance of the sweetness of the mango. Pakistan is renowned for its mango. They have several types of mangoes e.g. chaunsa, anwar ratol and sindhri. Each of these mangoes have a distinctive appearance and taste. The best part is, it was in Pakistan that the first time I learned how to eat a Mango without having to cut it.

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You just have to roll the mango in between your palms, squeeze it gently until the mango flesh becomes softened to almost juice-like status. Finally, you just bite out a small portion of its skin on top and suck the juice out while squeezing it. I was shocked the first time I tried that I can almost finish the whole fruit without having to peel it’s skin or cut it.

Shabbir turned towards me and assured me these were fresh and told me the price. Shabbir told me it’s a bit pricey but he doesn’t want to haggle with the chacha. I totally agreed. Then I saw the chacha was diligently choosing the best mangoes in his cart and putting it in a ‘shopper’ (that is what Pakistani call the plastic bag used for shopping). I gave money to Shabbir and told him to tell the chacha to keep the change. As the chacha was handing over the mangoes to Shabbir, he refused to take the payment. There was some commotion between Shabbir and him. “Chacha doesn’t want to take the money” Shabbir explained the commotion. “Why?” my eyes were wide open. “Just now when he saw me talking to you in English, he asked me where you were from. I told him that you are a foreigner and from Malaysia. So, he wants you to have this as a gift from him as you’re a guest here” Shabbir clarified.
That brought tears to my eyes. The chacha looked like he needed every single rupee that he could earn but yet he wanted to give away that much of his sales just to ensure the guest of his country, not even his personal guest to be happy.

Such are the beautiful souls that I have met here in this beautiful land. I’m not denying the fact that there are bad people here also. It is the norm everywhere in the world that when you have good people you will have bad ones too.

In fact, prominent travel bloggers who have visited Pakistan including Eva Zu Beck from London, Canadian solo woman traveller Rosie Gabriele and Peter Santenello from US gave their accreditation to the safety and hospitality of Pakistan.

The story of Rosie Gabriel was very intriguing. She travelled 11,000 km around Pakistan solo riding her motorbike for 10 months. She rode to the remote areas in Pakistan and she recalled how she was welcomed and accepted like a family member almost everywhere she went.

She fondly recalls an event that happened in a remote village in Balochistan. A local village woman, Perna who lived in what looked like a makeshift house, welcomed Rosie to her ‘palace’. Despite being the first time they are meeting and with language barrier, Perna took all the trouble to ensure Rosie felt comfortable.

After the Pakistan solo trip, Rosie accepted Islam. She quoted saying that her exprience in Pakistan influenced her decision to accept Islam.

As for my arrival at the hotel entrance, what I saw at the entrance definitely shocked me. It was the same security arrangements as we have at the airport check-in. Apart from the metal detectors, our baggage was also subjected to the x-ray machine here. This is the first time I have seen such a security arrangement for a hotel.

However, I soon realise that such an arrangement is normal at almost all the common places here in Pakistan. Even for entering a shopping complex, our vehicle will be subjected to intense security checks. We need to open both the engine hood and boot. The same metal detector gates with x-ray machine scan at the mall entrance. Having such an arrangement definitely reaffirms my earlier perception that there are potential threats. However, Alhamdulillah we have been spared from any such life threatening experiences. In actual fact, the suicide bomb attacks has become rare. After the change in the government in 2018, I have observed the incidents have been far less that we have never heard of any blast in any major cities in Punjab or Sindh; the two major states.

Good and bad people are there everywhere. We should not use our tainted glass to simply judge others. As for my stay, it has been a memorable one.

 “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” – Steve Jobs