Pakistan has a robust line of defense.

There is the army. Somewhat sexy, ever present, every where.

There is the air force. Sexier, less visible, but still there.

There is the Navy, neither sexy, not visible, but still there ( allegdley )

And there are the average every day nationalistic drum beating Pakistanis.

Everytime something goes wrong , they will swoop in to re-instate how this happens in other countries as well.

“This isnt just a Pakistan problem”

They will also engage in some rather dull nationalistic rhetoric regarding why you’re dragging the country’s name through the mud.

“Why can’t you share anything positive about the country?”

Both lines of approach are problematic on multiple levels.

For the first one, no one denies that the rest of the world does not have any issues. Every country has it’s own set of problems, but using this argument does not diminish or solve Pakistan’s very real and ongoing issues. The rest of the world does not have a role to play in how Pakistan treat’s its women, or the way it treats it’s minorities. The rest of world does not have a role to play in Pakistan’s shambolic rape and child abuse statistics .

Secondly, sharing negative news coming out of Pakistan is hardly easy. It never is. But that does not mean that one turn a blind eye to it and only seek out positive things. Share everything good that you come across by all means, but also highlight the dark side of the country you claim to love so much. By every objective standard, the dark side outweighs the positive one currently, and while that is nothing to be proud of, pretending to ignore it only makes matters worse.

It’s always said that the first step towards fixing something is acknolweding that something is wrong.

Most Pakistanis are unable to move beyond this step to begin with.