REFERENCE Muhammad Amir Rana`s `Through the looking glass` (July 3). The writer, giving several examples in support, has painted the Pakistanis as narcissists, who are angry at their bad image, .
He says our society has `social decay, where people behave as strangers; this can cause depression, also reflected in our lower standing (113th) in the Social Progress Index than India (98th) and Bangladesh (101st). He laments the intolerance, discrimination and extremism; ending by pointing out our bad relations with three neighbors.
Mr Rana has apparently considered only the last 15 or 20 years to derive his hypothesis. If begun 40 or 50 years back, his conclusions could be different.
First, rather than being narcissistic, we tend to have a bad self-image. A Western tourist had once said he`d traveled to most countries but never found people as critical of their country as Pakistanis.
Second, several credible Pakistani psychologists have for long put the number of depressed Pakistanis at between 50 and 70 per cent. Aaron Beck, father of Cognitive Psychology, showed that 80pc of depressed patients have a poor self-image (rather than being narcissistic).
Several years ago, a study by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) had put the number of Pakistanis with psychological problems higher than other South Asian nations. The cause was the much greater stress levels beyond control faced for long.
The turning point was reached by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 after which began the militancy and proxy wars promoted by outside powers. The moderate Muslims also started feeling under siege by various atheistic, secular and sectarian forces, leading to intolerance and extremism.
Peter Preston had written in the Guardian that: 1) if it had not been for Bush`s 9/11 folly, Pakistan could have joined India and China today at world economic forums and, 2) `For three decades of Afghan tumult, Pakistan has been blown hither and yon by outside imbecilities ... (and) is the heaviest casualty of them all.
Pakistan`s relations with India and Afghanistan have been bad since independence for well-known reasons but had been excellent with Iran until the post-1979 falling out over Afghanistan. Our writers should empathize like BMJ and Mr Preston with the Pakistanis.
He says our society has `social decay, where people behave as strangers; this can cause depression, also reflected in our lower standing (113th) in the Social Progress Index than India (98th) and Bangladesh (101st). He laments the intolerance, discrimination and extremism; ending by pointing out our bad relations with three neighbors.
Mr Rana has apparently considered only the last 15 or 20 years to derive his hypothesis. If begun 40 or 50 years back, his conclusions could be different.
First, rather than being narcissistic, we tend to have a bad self-image. A Western tourist had once said he`d traveled to most countries but never found people as critical of their country as Pakistanis.
Second, several credible Pakistani psychologists have for long put the number of depressed Pakistanis at between 50 and 70 per cent. Aaron Beck, father of Cognitive Psychology, showed that 80pc of depressed patients have a poor self-image (rather than being narcissistic).
Several years ago, a study by the British Medical Journal (BMJ) had put the number of Pakistanis with psychological problems higher than other South Asian nations. The cause was the much greater stress levels beyond control faced for long.
The turning point was reached by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 after which began the militancy and proxy wars promoted by outside powers. The moderate Muslims also started feeling under siege by various atheistic, secular and sectarian forces, leading to intolerance and extremism.
Peter Preston had written in the Guardian that: 1) if it had not been for Bush`s 9/11 folly, Pakistan could have joined India and China today at world economic forums and, 2) `For three decades of Afghan tumult, Pakistan has been blown hither and yon by outside imbecilities ... (and) is the heaviest casualty of them all.
Pakistan`s relations with India and Afghanistan have been bad since independence for well-known reasons but had been excellent with Iran until the post-1979 falling out over Afghanistan. Our writers should empathize like BMJ and Mr Preston with the Pakistanis.
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