Pakistan Forum

    Last week on the 29^th of April, 2008, there was an international forum held on the Chico State Campus.  What was I getting myself into? I was clueless, all I knew was I needed to fulfill my cultural events.  In this case I heard a friend of mine was going so I decided to go along.  Now, I knew what I was getting myself into when I arrived; it was a forum on ‘Understanding Pakistan,’ spoken by one of the department heads of religious studies, Mahan Mirza.  I sat there amused and set back at the same time still wondering what I got myself into, then the good words were spoken to me; that of politics, religion, geography, etc. of the native culture.  At this point I felt a bit more into the talk considering I knew what I was going to be learning about you can say. 

    And then it began.  I was enlightened that Pakistan was actually a ‘two’ region culture.  There was the East and there was the West.  Which one was better I began to think to myself?  First off, East Pakistan was later to be known as Bangladesh, which many of us would consider enemy territory, right near Afghanistan and Iran.  It was interesting to hear that even thought the climate was quite foreign to us they still enjoyed the same seasons as we do.  If this was the case then what about the weather I asked myself?  Well, in fact the weather is nearly the same as what Chico is like, very hot in the summer and milder in the winter.  Another interesting fact was that more than half the population which is around one million is very young, under thirty to be more precise. 

     Well, what’s next I thought?  Language was next on the agenda.  It is very wide spread to speak multiple languages in Pakistan; I would consider it a broken language barrier where many people speak what they please.  The actual language is Urdu.  The next topic was very interesting to me; this was because I learned that the political leaders of Pakistan varied among the soldiers and the working class of the towns.  That is, each year the leaders switched from either soldier to working class of vice versa.  I like this idea because it made everyone be more as one I would say because either way soldiers and the working class must work together to make society run as smoothly as possible.

    Is Pakistan Dangerous?  Very, in fact, they are the world’s most dangerous country.  In the words of the ‘prophet,’ become one with others and enjoy what cultures have to offer.  Mahan Miraza told us to be adventurous and seek out what we don’t know about Pakistan, learn from them what we as of now haven’t taken time to do.