Again.....the glorious past...... oh so glorious past...
Tell me whats recent.....Imported Infra....imported cars...imported values.......imported police....imported ...well almost everything other than importing wives........whats their own.....
So going by same line of logic, what have Hindus and Indians done aside from importing beyond the last 15 years? The past gives you an inkling of what you can attain in the future thus the need to be mindful of it.
The current generation of Arabs is as educated as those in the West. In the future, the impact of this will be felt by the world.
Lastly, Pakistanis do not suck up to anyone. What is a fact is that we find affinity with Arabs because of the common bond of Islam. The same goes for our relationship with Turks, Indonesians and Iranians among others. Pakistanis do not gloat when a misfortune visits Iran even if our Government may have an issue with the Iranian government's policies.
The street is what matters. If Pakistanis are mistreated in the UAE, should the entire Arab race be held accountable for it? How would this be any different than the ill-treatment of Afghans in Pakistan? Of for that matter that of the Hispanics in the United States? The fact is that this title and the initial blog is an oversimplification of the issue on hand.
Ill treatment of Pakistanis on the streets of Emirates or KSA is not something that is specific to Pakistanis. BDs and Indians are treated the same, as are Phillipinos etc. This is due to a the lack of respect for others in their culture maybe because of the way we behave and then they react or ostensibly the local's own insecurities. Its a well known fact that a vast majority of Pakistani diaspora in the ME is from the labour class which is less educated and more prone to having a negative image developed about it.
So overall the issue is one of outsiders coming to take local jobs, and the locals resenting it in some way which comes across as ill-treatment or sometimes even racism.
This socio-cultural issue aside, lets consider at the governmental level, Pakistan has always received solid backing from KSA and UAE on a number of issues. I would say the support is about the same that we have offered to them in return. There are certain Arab governments that have had differing views from those of the Pakistani governments because of past alliances and regional considerations. Here Egypt and Syria come in to the picture as they were closer to India than Pakistan due to their cold war baggage. However on the streets of Syria and Egypt, the people will always have a soft spot for Pakistanis.
For Pakistanis, the essence of this issue lies in the following couplet:
'Youn tau Syed bhi ho, Mirza bhi ho, Afghan bhi ho/Tum sabhi kuch ho, batao tau Mussalman bhi ho"
(You are Syeds, Mirzas and Afghans/You are everything but Muslims).
The street in the Muslim world is coming to this realization, former political, social and cultural biases notwithstanding. I say this while realizing that a united, global Muslim outlook won't come about in my lifetime at least, however the precedence has been set. One heartening observation is that the Muslims in Pakistan and Middle Eastern countries have enough affinity for each other to get over these Arab-Pakistani issues seen at the social level.
This is my story and I am sticking by it!