By: Muhammad Ibrahim Bhatti
The Prime Minister has rightly termed the use of English language and dress as a ploy to enhance Pakistan’s soft image as a baseless assumption and has identified the root cause of this behavior as a sense of inferiority. Addressing the National Amateur Short Film Festival on Saturday, he said that if we want to promote our soft image, we have to promote Pakistaniness because that is our soft image. Highlighting the importance of national self-reliance and self-confidence, the Prime Minister pointed out the fact that the world does not respect those who are ashamed of themselves. Referring to Pakistan’s soft image and its background, he said that this process started after the US war on terrorism when we participated in the war which I have always been against it. It was thought that Pakistan’s soft amicus would emerge in this way but on the contrary we were declared the patrons of terrorists. The Prime Minister clarified the important facts about national sovereignty that the soft image is not that we dress like the people of the West and start speaking their language, but the soft image emerges with self-confidence. The world respects the one who respects himself first, the one who has a sense of inferiority is imitating the world and there is no respect for imitation. If we want to promote our soft image then we have to promote Pakistaniness, this is our soft image. The Prime Minister also rightly attributed the decline of Pakistan’s film industry to the imitation of India’s film industry imitating Hollywood, which promotes pornography. Explaining the difference between the original and the copy, he said that in the world only the original thing is sold, the copy has no importance. Take the most expensive painting and copy it as best you can, but it will be of no value. The authenticity of this statement of the Prime Minister has been proved by the tremendous popularity of PTV’s clean and purposeful dramas not only in Pakistan but also in India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and UAE in the 1980s. The Turkish drama Ertugrul, which was shown in the country through the personal efforts of the Prime Minister, is a recent example of this. Emphasizing on introducing original and new thinking in the film industry, he said, “My lifelong experience is that a person who is afraid of losing can never win.” The winner is always the one who takes the biggest risks. In fact, the Prime Minister has reminded the nation of Allama Iqbal’s concept of self. According to Iqbal, “the nation does not need a sword, let alone the steel of its soldiers.” While Imran Khan says that he has high expectations from his youth, 60% of our youth population is very talented and these young people will showcase their unique talents in their country after acquiring technical skills. Undoubtedly, even after fifty-five centuries have passed since the liberation from British slavery, our ruling class is still suffering from the worst mental slavery, the greatest proof of which is that in the field of knowledge and skills, these people dress instead of learning from developed Western nations. They consider the adoption of culture and language as a stepping stone to development. Even like all developed nations, instead of educating Pakistani children in the national language, a foreign language has been imposed on them. If Imran Khan can free the nation from this mental slavery and make it a self-confident nation according to Iqbal’s philosophy of self, then all avenues of honor and pride will be wide open for us.