18/08: Pakistaniat and Common Sense

I have often enough heard that Pakistani citizens tend to violate laws when at home and strictly follow them when abroad. I have found this to be true to quite an extent, specifically where following the law abroad is concerned. Even when inside the country, the educated citizens tend to follow the laws most of the time, most being a key word here. I think the best way to determine the attitudes of the citizens of any country towards the law is to observe the roads in its cities and villages and see how many people follow the traffic laws. During a recent trip to UK, I found it very refreshing when I saw people following the law and not taking liberties with it. Obviously, there are exception but as a norm, people abroad respect the laws and expect others to do the same. This is a very positive trait which I liked a lot.

During my trip, I also visited Southall in London for dinner at the Lahore Restaurant. The streets were littered with crushed cans and packaging materials of various products [surprisingly enough, one can find a lot of chewing gums stuck on roads in most parts of England - rather disturbing when you consider the nicer aspects of the country] and there were an excessive number of Indians, and a comparatively smaller number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens amidst large boards depicting posters of Indian films being shown in the local cinemas. It is even called Little India by some. I felt pangs of embarrassment when I compared the place to other areas of London. All it takes is cleanliness and a better way to dress and talk to improve the soft image of the place to any visitors like me. Is that too much to ask? Pile the desi chicks [young women from India and other surrounding countries who are born or brought up (or even both) abroad] on top of this who think they have conquered the world by dressing in Western attire and their lame attempts at cat walking makes one want to flee to the North Pole, make an igloo and become a hermit. But enough of that! I seem to be digressing from the main point of this post.

Breaking the law is not something to be proud of. It's rather shameful and the consequences could be dangerous as is most often observed in road accidents where violating the traffic signal results in putting your self and some other unassuming victim at risk of fatal injuries in car accidents.

I recently read an article by Adnan Gill titled 'Pakistaniat and Common Sense' which prompted the above thoughts. I have posted another of his article on my site before which can be read here. The article made me stop and think about the reason(s) people violate laws. To me, it primarily seems as a way to stand out and be noticed. There are other reasons but this seems to be the most relevant of them all

On that note, I leave the reader with Adnan Gill's thought provoking article. All credit for the article below belongs to him. Without further ado...

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