For many years now, whenever something goes terribly wrong in Pakistan, the first reaction of the population is to always pin the blame entirely on the government.
It doesn't matter what the government does to improve the situation, everything is supposedly always their fault.
Take for example the current war against religious extremism, no matter how many Pakistani soldiers and policemen/women have died fighting these terrorists, it's still the governments fault for "not doing enough." Is it ever enough?
And even when the government puts in it's best efforts such as troops killing as many militants as they can, foiling many terrorist attacks, there is hardly if any sign of appreciation.
Instead there is blame after blame weather the government acts or not. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.
There are also many crazy conspiracy theorists in Pakistan who claim the ISI is training these terrorists to carry out the attacks. They claim this without any proof or even the slightest bit of solid evidence. Why would the ISI train and support the very people who are killing their own troops and blowing up their own offices?
These conspiracy theorists are obviously parroting the Hindutva propagandists next door who attract a large following of Pakistanis through Bollywood and other means.
Other conspiracy theorists like Ahmed Rashid repeat similar claims for profit since he's sold many books on this topic.
Even the high prices and the wide scale poverty is the fault of the government. While it's undeniable that the government, especially the armed forces of Pakistan have a history of corruption and human rights abuse, they have been made the scapegoat for just about every problem in the country.
Weather the government is democratically elected by the people or a dictatorship, everything is their fault.
For the poor, the government is totally at fault for their positions, while for the rich, the government is totally at fault for not doing enough to protect them and improve the country.
The truth is that the main cause of poverty in Pakistan is overpopulation, which I discussed in this post.
What right does a middle or lower class man with six or more children have to blame the government for his poverty when he makes enough income to support only one or two children? Even when many lower and middle class Pakistani men do not allow their wives to work outside of the household?
For the typical rich, spoiled, Westernized Pakistani elite, who is he/she to blame the government for the problems of the country?
The rich elites only pay taxes because they are forced to as they earn a sizable income.
The rich elites hardly contribute to Pakistani society. They send their children to English schools where they are Westernized and are hardly aware of what goes on in their country.
Many of these elites frequently break the law by bribing their way through or getting help from a friend or relative who works in the government.
Even with all this, the hypocritical elites still have the courage to accuse the government of corruption and the cause of every problem in the country.
Even during the intense war against the Taliban, there are demonstrations in front of Pakistani embassies by the expatriate communities.
Even when the Swat girl incident happened, somehow it was the governments fault with the blame going at them.
This recent news article is similar to the point I'm making. With TV shows trying to get higher ratings by bashing a democratically elected government the people themselves are guilty of installing. Amongst the people, many bash the government to feel not left out by their peers.
There's another recent article written covering government bashing to gain more popularity (and also to deflect guilt from one's self or organization in my opinion).
I do not advocate how Pervez Musharraf took power in Pakistan through illegal military force, but I have to admit he was a far greater leader then the elected Pakistani leaders in the recent decades.
Under Musharraf the Pakistani economy gained a steady recovery. Seats in the parliament were reserved strictly for women and religious minorities and religious extremists were given a strong response.
Even in newspapers I remember reading sometime around 2002-2003 where there were more than one cases of Musharraf ordering protection for women targeted by their husbands/families for honor killings. Still no gratitude.
I remember in 2006 passing by a protest by a women's rights group protesting against Musharraf for the poor treatment of middle class women in Pakistan. Despite all his efforts, give him no credit; just more blame.
Even during the 2007 Lal-Masjid incident in Islamabad where Taliban terrorists took over an important Mosque in Islamabad, blame after blame just struck Musharraf despite all his efforts to have the terrorists taken out without any of the hostages being harmed.
Most people, especially the elites, always focus on the negative side. Instead of supporting Musharraf's reforms, they elect Asif Zardari, who has been a longtime suspect in a history of corruption in Pakistan.
Today Zardari with his corruption record and his government are hounded and blamed by Pakistanis for the problems of the country.
If the case is such, then perhaps Pakistanis need to act independently of the government to improve the country since they see the government as an unreliable force no matter who is elected by the people. The people blame the same government they themselves elected.
Somewhere this cycle should stop and the people should support the government when they are doing something positive otherwise there will be no progress. Already people should know by now this cycle of hounding and blaming the government has achieved nothing.
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