Islamabad, Nov 7 (IANS): Pakistan is no longer in the race to become an Asian tiger, a prominent Pakistani daily said Thursday while commenting on India's maiden mission to Mars.
In an editorial, headlined 'Don't hate, appreciate', The Nation pointed out that India's Mars mission was aimed at detecting methane in the atmosphere of Mars and “deduce whether a life of any form exists on the planet”.
It said that Pakistanis might want to placate themselves by saying that India's Mars mission was a pointless exercise.
“So what if there is life on Mars? So what if there are aliens out there? Do we invite them back to Earth? No, thank you. We are already overpopulated. If anyone, India can appreciate that,” the editorial said.
“Perhaps this facetiousness is the only way to placate ourselves in the face of obvious defeat in the field of space exploration by our traditional rivals.”
It said that both India and Pakistan embarked on the race to become the Asian tiger and achieve greatness after both the nations gained independence in 1947.
“Wars were fought, and martyrs were born. But, it’s over. We are not in the race anymore. One of us has been to the moon, and now has their eyes set on Mars to become the first Asian country to reach the milestone,” the editorial observed.
Stating that the world agreed that India was going to be a major power in the years to come, it listed “steady democracy, independent judiciary, growing economy and a clarity in the vision for the future” as the reasons for this.
“On the other side, (Pakistan is faced with) a fragile system which claims to be democratic, fear of a contempt notice, deteriorating economy and a regressive mindset which threatens its very existence,” The Nation editorial said.
“The aim is not to ridicule or spread hopelessness, as everyone offering a reality check here is often accused of, but to rid ourselves of the illusion that we’re the best. We’re not.”
Stating that Pakistan could work to be the best, the editorial said, for that rhetoric would have to give way to reason, “arrogance to humility, personal gains to collective welfare, confusion to direction, and conspiracies to facts”.
“Let us not become another tragic story of wasted potential. No one, but we ourselves, are standing in the way of achieving all that we are capable of,” it said.
It suggested that Pakistan should focus on its own weaknesses and shortcomings for a change, accept these with openness, “and then strive to rectify and learn and truly become the nation we envisage ourselves to be”.
“That's the only way not to get left light years behind the rest of the world,” the editorial concluded.