ایچ اے خان
معطل
[Testimonial by Zia Khan on Azadi Movement]
Why I support Imran Khan?
Some of you ask me why do I support Imran Khan so much? Why am I obsessed with Pakistani politics? Why don't I just focus on educating Pakistanis, building software and making money, and not get involved in this dirty business? Why do I put myself in harms way by speaking so openly and so vociferously? In order for me to give you an answer I will have to tell you about myself, my background, and where I am coming from.
I was eleven years and one month old on December 16, 1971, when I cried continuesly and could not stop ( http://pkpolitics.com/discuss/topic/fall-of-dhaka-december-1971-unforgettable-tragedy ), and I was angry, Very Angry, to be accurate Extremely Angry. I thought of myself as a soldier of Pakistan, I knew I had to do something, but didn't know what. I could not just sit back and do nothing and act as if nothing had happened. That day I promised myself I will do whatever is required, whatever the cost, and whatever the sacrifice. I promised myself either I would change things or die trying. I promised myself that it would not matter to me if nobody was with me and I was alone in this battle. I promised myself that I would do nothing else in my life accept achieve this one thing and correct this situation.
In 1983, I was in college and spent a lot of time thinking about different solutions to our national problems (not all the time ). During the next few years, I realized that there are two ways in which I can try to address the issues given my very limited resources and capabilities.
Plan 1: Political Reforms
Try to bring a change by entering politics. This would have involved starting a new political party, etc. The aim would have been to bring the educated middle and professional classes into power and to fight against corruption and incompetence: The real battle for Pakistan. Once in power we will implement Plan 2.
Plan 2: Education and Skill-Set Reforms
This plan is based on the assumption that we are 200 years behind the west and rest of the developed world due to lack of skill set of our work force. We will have to upgrade our workforce with the latest and valuable skill set. I knew that I could not train the huge population of Pakistan, because most of them were uneducated in the first place, in addition it would take a 100 years to do so, and furthermore I did not have the resources. However, when I looked at Singapore I found hope. It has a workforce of only about 2 million and a nation income of $300 Billion. If somehow we could train 1 million (the core group) educated middle class in the state of the art technologies, the next million would automatically be created, because they would be providing services to the high tech and highly income core group. The rest of the country will just copy the success model, it would take time but it would happen eventually (maybe not in my lifetime). Once the things get started and the critical mass is achieved it would continue till total success is achieved.
I released I could not implement both the plans in my lifetime. Plan 1 would have been easier for me because I loved politics. Plan 2 would be very tough because I was not a good student myself (just to make you aware of the severity of the problem: I got 53.2% in intermediate exams). However, after looking at all the issues and chances I decided to skip plan 1 and implement plan 2 directly, and thus reduce the implementation time as per my thinking at that time.
I realized even then, that without implementing plan 1 (political reforms) the results of plan 2 (skill set reforms) would be very difficult to achieve. Because without reducing corruption there might be little chance of improving our lot. Please note that Singapore has a "Freedom From Corruption Index" of 91.9 ( http://www.heritage.org/index/country/singapore) while we have a index of 22.7 (http://www.heritage.org/index/country/pakistan ).
In order to implement plan 2 I knew I would have to sacrifice a lot of things like a normal life, marriage, normal job, etc. and do a lot of hard work/study. As a first step towards implementing plan 2 during the next few years against all odds given my limited intellegence and study ablilities I did more than 150 credit hours of graduate coursework spanning three masters degrees from ASU, and also completed two professional qualifications: CPA and CMA ( https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=3DC6681F40C57DF4&id=3DC6681F40C57DF4%21176 ).
After completing my studies (or so I thought) in 1993, I moved to the heart of economic engine of the greatest economic power on earth i.e. the Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. The idea was to learn from the very best and somehow find a way to get just 10% of their business (http://www.netvafrance.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=58&Itemid=1035&lang=en ).
Once I was there I realized that the only chance we had was in software. If we had about 10,000 high quality software developers the battle could be started. However, the question was were do we get these developers from? The fact was that they were not in Pakistan.
In October 1999, I came back to Pakistan to raise an army of 100,000 software developers (10,000 to start with) and go back to the Silicon Valley to continue this economic battle ( https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.76548392622.87372.692297622&type=1&l=14d362f985 ).
During the next 15 years made a lot mistakes but continuously moved forward no matter what the cost or circumstances. By trial and error and with His help, we are perfecting our model and are gaining strength day by day and hour by hour, with one student/developer at a time (https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151913156477623.1073741838.692297622&type=1&l=379cbe0c5e ).
But the fact remains no matter how hard we try, if the current politicians and the status quo are allowed to continue their merry way, everything will be lost. The educated and professional classes have to gain political power and kick out the Gullu Butts. We have to make sure that professionals like Asad Umar ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asad_Umar ) are running this country. They do not have to perform miracles but just have good niat and provide us enough security and policies, so that we can do the rest, Insha Allah.
I totally support Imran Khan's objectives and policies because he is doing my work. He is doing what was my responsibility in the first place. He is trying to do what I should have done. He is doing what I promised myself that I would do. I do not follow any man or ask others to follow me. It is not about the personalities but the objectives and our future. This is the battle for Pakistan.
We have to make sure that 1,000 years from now the historians would not say that December 16, 1971 was the beginning of the end. But the beginning of one of the greatest civilization in the history of the world. A civilization which landed the first man on Mars, a civilization which sent the first man beyond the solar system, a civilization which were masters of genetic technologies, a civilization which loved knowledge, a civilization which was fair even with its enemies, and a civilization which always accepted and corrected its mistakes, and all of us played a small part in it.
I would rather die than give up my dream. I am so happy that there are millions of these soldiers of Pakistan, last Sunday in Karachi and this Sunday in Lahore and all over the country, even in New York. They were always the silent majority, now they are the shouting majority. Let all those who love Pakistan fight this battle for Pakistan, Victory or Death.
"Forward, the Pakistani Brigade!"
http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html
Pakistan Zindabad.
Zia Khan
A Pakistani Soldier To The End
#GoNawazGo #Pakistan
مائیکرو سوفٹ کا گماشتہ عمران کی حمایت کررہاہے بات سمجھ میں آتی ہے
