by Anwar Akhtar

I’ve just returned from a month in Pakistan, where I met incredible people working in NGOs, from arts, educational, heritage and cultural organisations to citizen groups running school projects and women’s welfare groups.

As a British born Pakistani, making only his third visit to Pakistan, I came away thinking how little - despite family links and an intense media spotlight - I actually understood this vast, beautiful, complex country, with its great city metropolises of Karachi and Lahore, its vast mountain regions, to the deserts and plains of Sindh and the villages, towns and fertile plains of the Punjab,

There is, however, far more to Pakistan than this. Indeed I came away from my trip optimistic for Pakistan’s future, whilst under no illusions about the difficulties the country faces.

Churchill’s famous quote on Russia in 1939, ‘ a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma’ accurately describes Pakistan today. Although this will not stop various, half baked, obnoxious, racist commentators hysterically waxing lyrical in the right wing press like they know every square inch (Pakistan is geographically larger than France). If you’re looking to resuscitate a flagging career in the media, then attacking British Muslims, British Pakistanis or Pakistan seems a financially productive groove at the moment.

If you want any existing notions, ideas, stereotypes of Pakistan’s putting aside, make your first trip after you step out of Karachi airport, a visit to Karachi’s Canvas Gallery housed in a modernist town house on Clifton Beach, full of impressive contemporary art, much of it, about to be shipped to Bonham’s, Christies and Sotheby’s.

From there go meet the amazing Anjum Rani of Truck Art, one of Pakistan’s foremost experts on the folk arts and visual traditions of street artists, that adorn the buses and trucks of Pakistan. She was one of many people I met, working heroically, to preserve Pakistan’s many heritages, cultures and traditions in the face of many challenges the country faces.

The people I met raised for me a moral conundrum. How you square the case to invest in arts, culture, heritage, preservation, protection of traditional arts forms and cultures with the need to put scarce resources into so many other areas, including the most important one, feeding, educating and protecting the children of Pakistan?

One answer on the evidence of those I met, was of remarkable pragmatism, aligned with an incredible work ethic: many working in culture and heritage were active in other welfare NGOs.

Another surprise that greets you is the very high levels of governance, transparency, audit and efficiency these NGOs are run to. Several people made the point that they decide to build these organisations independently of the state to ensure this. If there is one thing that runs through the DNA of the people of Pakistan, it is entrepreneurship. This country, after all, is part of the ancient Silk Road. This entrepreneurial skill is applied to a range of well run and independent NGOs in Pakistan. An attitude of ‘can’t rely on the state with all its complications and challenges, we have to be self sufficient’. Needs must, and necessity is.

Two NGOs I visited deserve special attention. The Citizens Foundation was formed in 1995 by a group of successful Pakistani business and cultural leaders. The writer William Dalrymple details the work and amazing success of the Citizens Foundation in the link below. In addition to his fine essay, I add a couple of points from my meeting with the Director there, an extraordinarily impressive human dynamo of a man, Mr Ateed Riaz, who together with his fellow founders of The Citizens Foundation, have now delivered over 600 purpose-built schools, in Pakistan's poorest, most underdeveloped and rural areas, since they were founded in 1995. They open a new school every week. Every day about 80,000 boys and girls enter the gates of a Citizens Foundation school in Pakistan. British Pakistani James Caan of Dragon’s Den fame is an active supporter of them - no surprise, as I bet they beat the socks off many entrepreneurs that pitch on the programme.

Mr Riaz, as you’d expect from a man in his position, is of a diplomatic nature. I did however detect disappointment from him when we discussed that there are approximately 800,000 British citizens, with Pakistani heritage and given that most of us (let’s leave aside for now those doing Ali G impressions or trying to out Wahhabi a Wahhabi) are concerned for the welfare of the children of Pakistan. I got the distinct impression from Mr Riaz, that British Pakistani engagement and support for Citizens Foundation was not of the scale that it could and should be.

A similar theme emerged when I met the wonderful Neelam Shah, Director of the Simorgh Womens project in Lahore. A NGO dedicated to education work, supporting women and children in the poorest communities in Pakistan by publishing children’s books and dissemination of family health information. Two of the most important areas of work one could identify for Pakistan. It came as no surprise to me that Neelam Shah was also a renowned Punjabi literature expert, working to preserve, document, translate and publish the historic texts, ancient fairytales and stories of the different regions of Pakistan. A woman working to protect the women and children of Pakistan and Pakistan’s heritage. Again whilst she was far to polite to say anything specific, I came away with the clear impression Simorgh was not getting the support from the diaspora that it should.

My meetings with the organisers of Hum Pakistani, a NGO umbrella group, again underlined these issues. The Pakistani communities in Britain have been very committed in giving donations to support the refugees of the conflict in the Swat Valley and the earthquake in Kashmir. It’s the longer term work - the relationship building, the work exchanges, career placements, organisational partnerships, support for universities, colleges and art schools, supporting scholarships and more - that matters. Much more needs to be done by all of us that have an interest in the future of the children of Pakistan.

Given how many of us go over to Pakistan and the many young, intelligent, ambitious British Pakistanis, taking an active interest in international relations this is a situation, I think will now begin to rectify itself. If you’re interested in the welfare of Pakistan, The Citizen Foundation, together with the famous Edhi Foundation, Simorgh Women’s project and Hum Pakistani are good places to start with. Look them up online and go from there. It’s not just about giving money but about helping build and sustain their work for the long term. If you’re a British Pakistani, next time you visit, pay them a visit and spend some time with them.

Anwar Akhtar is director of The Samosa

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This article was corrected on 16 October 2009 with updated figures. There are now approximately 600, not 300, purpose-built schools built by the Citizen's Foundation in Pakistan, serving 80,000 students, not 40,000.


www.newstatesman.com/middle-east/2007/04/tcf-schools-pakistan-education

www.thecitizensfoundation.org

www.simorghpk.org/

www.edhifoundation.com/

www.humpakistani.com.pk/