Mirza Zahirdaar Baig

Side-effect

The writer is a poet and author based in Islamabad.

Nazir Ahmed Dehlavi, famously known as Dipty Nazir Ahmed (‘Dipty’ is morphed from the word ‘deputy’ as the gentleman was a civil servant of the Raj), was a 19th century Indian Muslim reformer and author who was also associated with Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s reformist movement for educating, modernising and uplifting South Asian Muslims.

Some serious readers and critics of Urdu fiction and social thinkers who came after him continue to criticise his conservative familial and social ideas as well as him being pedantic in his fiction. However, there is no denying the fact that his novels have a unique distinction of never being out of circulation – a fact that does not necessarily make his work great but certainly makes it important.

One of Nazir Ahmed’s most famous characters is Mirza Zahirdaar Baig. As the very name suggests in Urdu, the gentleman is pretentious, showy and fake. Through this character, which is at one level both engaging and entertaining for readers, Nazir Ahmed rejects such disposition in people. Mirza Zahirdaar Baig became a universal character and part of the parlance in literate households across the Urdu-knowing world in South Asia.

Pretence, affectation, vanity – these are some common weaknesses in human nature. Even if there are many of us who are not fundamentally pretentious, we must have – at least once when young – pretended to be what we are not or claimed to know what we do not know or declare to possess what we do not possess. People concealing or exhibiting facts about themselves that are not true is a trait found everywhere. And in less educated and more classist societies, the incidence of this is higher. In more educated and less classist societies, the incidence of pretence may be a little lower.

There is a small Mirza Zahirdaar Baig in many people, if not all. Literary merit apart, and whether we like the didactic and reformist style of writing by Nazir Ahmed or not, it is hard to disagree with his rejection of such deception in society depicted through Mirza Zahirdaar Baig. If the trait continues from a younger age into adulthood and is not contained, such individuals are either ridiculed in their absence or made into a laughing stock in their presence.

But what does one do when this characteristic is adopted collectively by a people? What do we do when a representative part of a nation wants to pretend what it is not, claim to know what it does not know and declare to possess what it does not possess? It becomes a nation of Mirza Zahirdaar Baigs. Psychologically, when we continue to lie about ourselves or pretend what we are not for a longer period of time we sometimes start believing in that lie and that pretence. That is called self-deception – something that is more problematic and damaging than deceiving others.

The world has changed. The planet is X-rayed. Neither can talents be hidden nor handicaps covered. Accomplishments cannot be undermined nor failures concealed. Each and every development statistic is known to all and sundry. Each and every problem is realised and understood across the world. Pakistan is a part of the comity of nations and a signatory to international treaties, conventions, covenants and protocols.

To meet the international standards of human development we have committed to as a state, we continue to ask for international aid and technical assistance. We ask for support to fight poverty, disease, illiteracy and dispossession. Where does that pretence of being one of the greatest nations on the planet disappear when we are asking for aid in international forums?

Look at our children. About half of the children of school-going age in Pakistan are out of school. Our literacy and numeracy rates are among the lowest if compared to countries whose economies are equivalent if not smaller than that of ours. The conservatives among us still cannot understand what Sir Syed Ahmed Khan could understand 150 years ago. For them, anything worldly including modern education is of little consequence. The liberals among us blame the madressahs for extremism and violence – rarely appreciating the inherent link between the absence of a universal public education system and the capability of madressahs to mushroom and fill the void for poor children.

When you compare education systems, you compare the averages. We produce some exceptionally bright students from our tertiary education system but what about the average product? Our average graduate and post-graduate students cannot even be compared in their knowledge and skill to their counterparts in the region, leave alone advanced countries.

Not even in Afghanistan, where a war has been waged for decades, are polio vaccinators for children killed by terrorists in such large numbers. Pakistanis were not counted among carriers of the polio virus some years ago but now all children and adults travelling abroad are asked to take polio drops so that the disease is not spread in countries we are visiting.

We are trying hard but have not yet succeeded in saving the lives of our nurses and vaccinators or the policemen who are appointed to defend immunisation campaigns. Our infant and maternal mortality ratios are among the highest in the world. We lose more than seventy young women every day in childbirth. Many of these women have other young children that they leave behind. Most of our Basic Health Units and Rural Health Centres are in a bad shape. Our public health system is in a shambles.

While growth indicators and initiation of large development projects in housing, road works, infrastructure, energy and light industry are being brandished by the powers that be, reports show that the average income of a small farmer in Pakistan is depleting. The sanitary workers in Islamabad, for instance, haven’t for the last three months been paid the peanuts they receive as salary to be able to survive.

Coming to the women in the country, there is systematic social discrimination – if not official – that continues unabated. Undoubtedly, we have made huge progress in pro-women legislation over the past years in the face of all odds, but to get women their due rights is still a long haul. When a brave girl from Swat raises her voice and campaigns for girl education, first she survives an assassination attempt and then she is branded as a traitor by many. When a woman from Karachi makes films on issues faced by Pakistani women like being burnt by acid or killed in the name of honour, she is branded a western stooge even after she brings forth the good being done by Pakistanis to correct the course.

As for our minorities, contrary to what the founding father envisaged for us, the discrimination is not just social, it is constitutional as well. Inherent social discrimination is on top of that. And if they are both poor and a religious minority, then they are the most marginalised and disadvantaged. While our political leaders fully realise that things have to be set right, the most they can do is greet them on their festive occasions.

When some well-meaning friend reprimands me after reading my column once in a while, and says that we should portray a good image of Pakistan through our words, I do not feel offended at all because I respect their love for our country. I actually feel sad. We must not claim what we do not know and not declare what we do not possess. Our image in the world will not improve by our words but by our deeds.

If we are seen as a critical people – self-critical who recognise our own weaknesses and failings, who have the capacity and willingness to learn from our own and other people’s past and present to better our future and improve our lot – it will not just increase respect for us but also give us strength to tackle and resolve the issues we face.

Email: harris.khalique@gmail.com