Stereotype # 6 - All Pakistani’s live in joint-family systems

There is a general misconception that all Pakistani’s live in a joint family system with no less the 20 family members running the helm of affairs in a particular household at a given time. This concept is reinforced by television dramas and commercial movies that portray big Pakistani families with complicated entangles and dramatic incidences.

Pakistanis are more family-oriented in a way that it has always been a norm for them to meet and greet relatives time and again and in most cases, even live within the same area if not the same household. 

However, the concept of nuclear homes is as embedded in the Pakistani society as the joint family system. People move from their ancestral homes in pursuit of better opportunities, a better lifestyle and a better future for their progeny. It is a norm for residents of rural areas to set up residences in the urban areas. Not all Pakistani homes harbor countless family members.

So if you thought Pakistani households are rampant with bratty children, nagging wives and motherly figures then that is another stereotype that needs busting.

I am a Pakistani and I don’t live in a joint family set-up.

Stereotype - All Pakistani’s live in joint-family systems, Status = BUSTED!

Stereotype # 5: Muslims are terrorists and by that equation, all Pakistani’s are terrorists!

Terrorism is a menace that has plagued various countries world over. Even those that remain sheltered from it, experience its repercussions one way or the other. Some countries have tried to battle it out with force while others are still reeling from the aftermath of a failed military operation against the instigators.

Pakistan suffers from a chronic case of terrorism. There is fear in the hearts of the inhabitants. Every day is a challenge for the populace that has to survive through all the terror against all odds.

While on a national front, they country suffers from the disease of terrorism, there is no respite for Pakistan on the international front too. A Pakistani passport is the worst passport to travel on. Pakistani travelers are meted out with the worst kind of treatment. They are generally scrutinized from head to toe and looked on with suspicion while other travelers may not encounter any discomfort at all.

Reason?

The general misconception that all Pakistani’s happen to be bearded mullahs out to get the infidels!

Well, no. Terrorists commit the acts of terror and leave the label on the entire nation. You see the news, there are bombs, you automatically associate it with every other Pakistani who may be indirectly, if not directly, involved with that particular act of terrorism.

In reality, Pakistanis are as normal as people in all the other very privileged and ‘safe’ countries. We Pakistani’s have the same hopes for the future and the same desire to see our country proper and not to be mud-slinged on an everyday basis.

Here is one Pakistan writing to you in the most normal possible way. There are others not very different from me.

Don’t let one person, one set of people and one particular ideology ruin an entire nation for you.

Stereotype - Muslims are terrorists and by that equation, all Pakistani’s are terrorists!

Status – Hopefully BUSTED!