You may see it falling apart piece by piece on your televisions. And we might sit back and criticize our leaders for whatever that is happening. We might have the images of 'terrorism' shoved down our throats, and everything bad that happens is labeled exactly that so that the authorities have answers to give to the people they don't seem to care about, and yet - we remain.

It is amazing to see everything that this country has gone through and still remain. As much there is to hate, there is so much more to love. You cannot describe it unless you are a Pakistani, and no matter what you do, no matter how much you deny it, no matter where you live, you'll have to admit deep down that you care. You care alot. And you cannot describe the fire that bursts inside you as soon as someone condemns anything about your country.

It's funny, some years back on this same exact day, our fore fathers were fighting for where we call Home now. On this same exact day, sometime, they were thinking about the future. Sometime this day they stood up, and resolved to built this country upon Allah's name. They swore to fight all battles they might have to fight - and in the end they got our Home. On this same exact day, the thoughts inside their mind might have scared them, they might have been frightened of all the possibilites, and they did not know then that they would achieve everything they wanted- albeit the murderous horrors they'd have to face. They'd achieve Pakistan. And I guess that is why it remains. It was built in the name of Allah, and it will only perish if Allah wishes it to.

And so Pakistan stands. You may read about it in newspapers at your doorstep, or shake your heads at the television, but it stands. We were supposed to be free, but instead we are trapped in our own horrors and mistakes that we don't quit repeating. But you know what? A Pakistani will always tell you that they were proud to be a Pakistani. Because Pakistan is no other country - no sir. It's where you learn to bear the sweltering heat without electricity, it's where your Ammi forces you to do your nashta, where you hear those enchanting tales of the Pakistan Movement from your Nanis and Nanas, and Dadis and Dadas, where the people playing International cricket right now only went upto that level because they played street cricket once like all your male cousins and brothers, where your Khalas and Mamoos and Phuppos and Phuppas and all your 505 cousins are your life, where the weddings live on well into the night, where guests may come and leave as they please for random dawaats, where the brother that lives abroad makes his occasional trips and longs for daal chawal and nothing else, where the biggest head aches come from tailors, driver sahabs, chowkidars, and such, where everyone watches cricket as if it is a matter of life and death, and where you meet people at dawaats and weddings you have no idea existed, but they pinch your cheeks anyway and tell you they saw you as a baby, and where the love from friends (yawwwwwwr), family ( family means great-great aunts, distant uncles, 3rd and 4th cousins and such) and teachers is unmatched. And that is why there is no place like Pakistan.

And you know what else? One of these days all these people will not only be talking about their problems, but out on the streets trying to solve them. One day Pakistan will truly be free, and Inshallah ta'la, Allah will make that day come about. One day Pakistan will be what it was meant to be. May Allah give us strength to bring about that day.

Pakistan ka matlab kia, la ilaha illa Allah.

Happy Pakistan Day.