What chance does Pakistan have when Pakistanis do nothing?

“What chance does Gotham have when the good people do nothing?” Rachel Dawes, Batman Begins (2005).

It’s been 18 years since Batman Begins was released. It was the reboot of the Batman film franchise. It spawned two more sequels and both grossed over one billion dollars in the box office worldwide. All three movies have impressive storytelling which changed the superhero film approach. Instead of going campy, they went with realism and seriousness.

The line said by Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins which I am referencing in this blog holds depth for Pakistan’s current situation. The country’s ruling elite are going all-fascist, arresting anyone who opposes the government and showing support for former Prime Minister Imran Khan. They are mad! Mad with power and greed and they won’t stop until they have full control of the chessboard so they could play themselves. They do not want the pawns to become queens, which are the Pakistani people. The sad reality is, most Pakistanis want to remain pawns.

With so much happening in Pakistan, inflation, load-shedding, depleting law-and-order situation and the ruling elite going full fascist mode, Pakistanis are not rebelling at their highest potential.

They are not rebelling like the Americans rebelled when George Floyd was murdered.

They are not rebelling like Indian farmers against the Indian government for introducing new farming laws that they didn’t agree with.

They are not rebelling like Sri Lankans when the country went bankrupt and its people had had enough and stormed the palace of the ruling elite.

Pakistanis are still waiting for somebody. A savior! It was taught in our history textbooks. One Muslim ruler triumphing over the enemy. Salauddin, Babar, Quaid e Azam, Imran Khan. One man leading the nation or people to victory.

The reality is, yes, there are individuals who play an important role in history to change history. Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah with India’s Independence, Washington, Jefferson with America’s Independence, Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman to free and emancipate the slaves. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X with the Civil Rights Movement. Yes, they have shortcomings but played a role in history. They gain traction for their work and effort they put in so others may enjoy the benefits of freedom and other fundamental rights.

The problem now is most Pakistanis are either waiting for a ‘messiah’ who will clean things up in a snap or too oblivious or willing to remain in the system the ruling elite has set up. Remember The Matrix? When Neo and Morpheus are in a training module and Morpheus said some people in the Matrix are too confined they are hard to unplug? Cypher was unplugged but wanted to get plugged again. He preferred the system of oppression over system of freedom.

Yes, freedom comes at a cost. Remember The Shawshank Redemption? When Morgan Freeman’s character says a new prisoner comes and he cannot bare being in the confines of his cell but as time goes on the walls become familiar? He gets institutionalized! Most Pakistanis are institutionalized in my opinion.

Only time will tell what’s going to happen in Pakistan. I wrote a blog that Pakistan will survive. It may be the last stand of the country’s establishment. Systems of oppression in other countries have collapsed and have changed in history.

Howard Zinn called the American Revolution “A Kind of Revolution.” Blacks, women, indigenous tribes didn’t had rights. The Emancipation Proclamation happened along with the 14th, 15th and 19th Amendments. There is still work need to be done particularly with the SCOTUS’s ruling against Affirmative Action.

The Nazis were finally taken down in 1945 in Germany and elsewhere in Europe. West Germany belonged to the Allies while East Germany was in the hands of the USSR. Germany was unified in 1990. Japan was in ruins after World War II. It was hard to predict the country could go on to become one of the largest economies in the world at that time. The world is filled with Japanese and German cars.

Pakistan’s situation can change for the better. Only time will tell! Pakistanis must decide if they want to remain pawns or cross the other side to become queens.