A Ray of Light in Darkness by Asad Tirmizi19 comments

I grew up in a country plagued with uncertainty. A country whose bases of formation, clear as a mirror are fogged by stains of provincialism, sectarianism, feudalism, terrorism and exploitation. The high frequency of crisis which this piece of land has seen in its nascent years has resulted in an exodus of people who would rather not associate with Pakistan. I grew up among a generation disappointed with the state of affairs around them, hopeless about the future of the country and after many years of exploitation by linguistic, religious, feudal and political pundits had somehow made a compromise with the situation that nothing can be done, things will never change and till the time we are comfy in our abodes, let us not care about what happens around us. Resultantly our nation in its utter disappointment, that nothing can be done, has given a free hand to anyone in power, to bend in whatever way that suits his interests the destiny of our whole country. A million examples can be quoted in which issues of national importance were politicized for personal gains putting the development of Pakistan on a back burner. A political setup based on family politics and an active military participation has made sure that Pakistan remains either in claws of military or civilian dictatorship thus barricading entry of worthy, deserving and patriotic leadership. When people come to realize that they will never get representation in avenues of power, they either lose hope or demand a revolutionary change in system. Our countrymen sadly due to their apathy and rampant ignorance have selected the former.

This is the Pakistan I grew up in. Outwardly, I like most others, had made a compromise with the affairs to plan a destiny on a sail less ship being navigated by the most undeserving of captains in the roughest possible waters. But in my heart I was never satisfied, knowing this is not the country the father of my nation fought for, this is not the country our forefathers gave their lives for, this is not the country we the youth of Pakistan deserved. But, then I met and became part of a group way different than anyone I had ever seen before in Pakistan. A group of young motivated people who would not sit idle when issues of national importance are being thrust upon them contrary to the desires of our countrymen. A group of people who take pride in their identity, religion and culture yet aren’t biased to degrade those who disagree. This is a group of people who have no political gains, who have no monetary gains associated with their activities. This is Pakistan Youth Alliance.

Pakistan Youth Alliance aims to awake the youth of Pakistan from the sleep of Apathy. The mission is to gather together young people whose only motive is a better Pakistan and to utilize their energies for nation building. The activities of this organization are as varied as are its demographics. The main focus is however on:

• Enlightening the youth to feel responsible for this country and prepare them for future leadership tasks
• Rallying and raising their voices against injustice, exploitation and other social ills of our society.
• Raise funds for various nation building activities like education of youth, welfare of missing persons families, helping the war torn affected of Swat etc.
• Making our leaders accountable for their deeds and to demand an explanation when their activities tarnish the image of our homeland.
• Spreading the message of enlightenment, hope, responsibility and patriotism to the masses through unconventional but effective mediums like music, poetry and prose.

Pakistan Youth Alliance which started during the “Emergency Rule” in November 2007, held a number of anti-emergency protests across Pakistan. Recent event include Protest against Indian air space violations, Fund raising for the effected of Swat and Gaza, show of solidarity against indiscriminate attacks on Srilankan cricketers and Rallying for the Restoration of Judiciary. There are various Socio Political events in the pipeline in near future which include fund raising concerts, panel discussions, study circles, seminars and walks/vigils. Moreover, PYA is planning a “Music for Change” series of jams/gigs across the country which would urge musicians to use their music as a tool to wake the youth of Pakistan up.

PYA is an organization which unlike other political parties and student federations takes it strength purely from Pakistan, particularly from the segment of society which has always been neglected i.e. the youth. We do not cash upon religious biases, we do not rely on provincial prejudices, we do not emphasize on sectarian issues and we have no linguistic barriers in our organization. We believe Pakistan to be a true Islamic Republic in which people of every religion can participate in nation building therefore we carry the same spirit into our organization and any person or any religion can play a role provided he has no personal petty gains attached with it. For us Provinces are no more than mere lines which are there only for better management of Pakistani territories. In PYA there is no Punjabi, no Sindhi, no Balochi, no Pathan and no Kashmiri there are only Pakistanis, True Pakistanis. In PYA there are no linguistic barriers, for us language is a mode of communication and we choose one which can convey our message to the masses effectively. We draw our strength from our National Language Urdu and are equally proud of all the regional languages because it binds us to our land. We are proud of our Urdu distorted throats which can’t speak English in Foreign accents reminding us every moment of our lives that we belong to Pakistan.

PYA believes our country is the land of opportunity. We are a nation who when decides to achieve something … achieves it by any means. A glimpse in our history shows that when our forefathers decided to gain their freedom, an empire on which the sun never sets bowed down. When we decided that we will have no barriers on our liberty, a billion racist Hindustanis dreaming to undermine our religion and freedom were thrown back across the border. When our country was challenged to defend its freedom in Indo Pak wars, we proved our mettle by defending our freedom from armies five times our size dreaming to drink in the land of Pure. When our fathers decided to build a nuclear arsenal for protection against our enemies, the whole world saw a nation which can’t make a needle on its own, build nuclear weapons and state of the art missiles. My dear Countrymen this is the legacy we should have possessed to build on it a better Pakistan. But the continuous exploitation by corrupt leaders and our apathetic attitude has resulted in hopelessness beyond measures. But even now nothing is lost. We are the same people who have altered the course of history in the past. We can do it again! Provided we are ready to pay the sacrifices, provided we make up our mind. This country which has given us so much and has asked back so little, deserves much better stature than it has today.

At PYA we have made up our mind that either we’ll go down or our country will go up. For all those who wish to join us in this task of nation building we assure negligible gain and unimaginable pain. The only gain we enjoy is the green flag unfurled in all its grace. The only gain we want is a better Pakistan and we are ready to go any distance for this cause. We don’t promise that we will bring a change but we promise to spark a brain that will bring a change!

Everyone who wants to be a part of this unprecedented movement can E-mail at pakistanyouthalliance@gmail.com or contact +92.333.4532030 or join our facebook group “Pakistan Youth Alliance” and very soon our web portal, http://www.pya.org.pk/ would be online too.

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