We're a busy bunch, us Pakistanis. India’s mission to the planet Mars successfully blasted off on Tuesday, the same day Pakistan test-fired a short range missile Hatf IX (NASR). The coincidence may have added to the nervousness of the anxious scientists at the southern spaceport of Sriharikota, inciting fear that their 350-tonne space rocket to a different planet might be eclipsed by the majesty of the 60km-range Hatf IX. The objective of the $73 million Indian project is to land the unmanned probe on Mars sometime next year, and detect methane in the Martian atmosphere to deduce whether a life of any form exists on the planet.
What 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. 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.
Two nations gained independence in 1947. The rivalry began. Both wanted to be the “Asian tiger”, and achieve greatness. 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 world is in agreement that it is likely to emerge as major power in the years to come. Steady democracy, independent judiciary, growing economy and a clarity in the vision for the future. On the other side, 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 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. But, we can be. Rhetoric will 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. Focus on our own weaknesses and shortcomings for a change. And, accept them 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.