Identity crisis is a term we Pakistanis have often heard or been accused of many times before, mostly by the intellectuals of our eastern neighbour, India. Whether we agree with it or not or whether we like or not but there’s no doubt that the Pakistani people are facing a severe identity crisis at this moment. We see extreme religious hardliners in mainstream politics and as an active member of our society at one end and then we also get to see a progressive feminist movement marching the streets of big cities with their considerably offensive posters supporting every kind of vulgarity you name. Identity crisis is something that spreads like a cancer in a nation and it eats up the culture, values and ethics of that society like termites eat up wood and makes it weak, fragile and hollow from the inside. Identity crisis is one of the biggest weaknesses your enemy can exploit and to prevent that from happening we must all go back and remember our cultural values, ethics, social norms and prevent ourselves from adopting foreign culture into our society and family system. This is what Iqbal taught us.
Muhammad Asim Khan
Islamabad
