Guess the country

"If you really put a small value on yourself, rest assured the world will not raise your price", unknown but wise author; we as a nation can perhaps learn a lot from him. The continuous jejune self-bashing, in the name of news expose, has reached fatal proportions for Pakistan. The extent and kind of damage we can inflict on ourselves, our adversaries could only dream about for eternity.
Our archenemies must surely be extremely grateful, surprised but grateful; at the minimum they surely don't require a huge budget for espionage and negative lobbying against Pakistan. We diligently report everything bad about us to the entire world!
Perturbed by the incessant negativity prevalent all around, there have been previous attempts at highlighting that Pakistani's also belong to same species. Unfortunately selfish motives, either political or financial or simply for the sake of viewership, continue to marginalize patriotism. As we continue to wash our dirty linen out in the open we inadvertently strengthen the perception that Pakistanis are different for all the wrong reasons. No, we are not!
While browsing this week's "The Economist" certain news items triggered the serendipitous experience of a relevant idea arriving just when least expected. Perhaps simultaneously watching a chat show where the anchor loudly harped about current controversies and desperately controlling the urge to call and educate him about Islamic guidance on screaming, may also have been a catalyst.
Whatever the case maybe, the series on profit is deferred this week for more pressing issues. So let's move on with the Quiz. The sentences below have been extracted from a recent issue of "The Economist", which fact is duly acknowledged with thanks. More interestingly, it wasn't even necessary to scan the entire magazine for the following quiz. Country name and other hints have been deliberately masked. The answers appear at the end, best of luck!
1. ****'s president, ******* has mauled his country's fragile democracy and weak institutions. He has bullied the media, tampered with the judiciary, exercised arbitrary power and presided over an upsurge of corruption.
2. It is true that ***** commits appalling human right abuses, which are all too often underplayed in the ... you crucially overestimate the impact that the United States ... can have on the internal workings of what is probably the most brutal regime on the planet.
3. Governments that operate on a cash basis do not fully understand their positions. The ***** government recently failed to notice an error equivalent to 3% of GDP, a huge accounting error.
4. Since 2004 when a modern campaign of terrorism began, over 5000 people have been killed in the four provinces...
5. Most ***** prisons are less salubrious than ****, with inmates typically enduring overcrowding, poor hygiene and ...Worse corruption, intimidation and violence are endemic..."Too many are jailed without investigation. The poor have no chance, if they cannot pay for advocates
6. The political compromises that have produced much of *****'s deficit of 8% of GDP are programmed to go into reverse at the end of the year, two months after the election.
7. Last year ***** was gripped by its worst drought in more than a century. Direct agriculture losses were estimated at $5.2 billion: cities and towns scrambled to keep their reservoirs from running dry. ... The fundamental problem however remains unchanged: a booming population needs more water.
8. In general ****** voters are obliging towards presidents who seek a second term...But an incumbent also benefits from many advantages which, or so the challengers say, tilt the playing field and make for an unfair fight.
9. Scandals are par for the course in ******, but this one promises to spray unusual amount of muck.
10. In 1967 a military president banned new state lotteries to favour the federal game, and some governors decided that tolerating...... and taking a cut of their illicit profit was better than earning nothing at all.
11. On May 1st Mr **** nationalised TDE, ***** national power-grid company which was owned by...... Mr**** first rattled investors when he tore up hydrocarbons contracts on labour day
12. GDP shrank in the first quarter of 2012, pushing **** formally into recession for the second time in two years. Another 366,000 people have lost their jobs bringing the total unemployed to 5.6m, the highest on record.
13. Austerity bites, citizen protests, politician squabble and a government collapses. The latest country performing this drama is ******
For the readers who find the above statements very familiar, NONE of these relate to Pakistan.
The answers in reverse order are: Romania; Spain; Bolivia; Brazil; Brazil; America; Texas USA; America; India; Thailand; Germany; North Korea; and the first one is Ukraine.
If further convincing is needed go to Google type in "corruption" and than start typing in countries like France, India, Brazil, Germany; the results will definitely be amusing and surprising.
The point is definitely not to justify our faults; the point is that we are no different than the rest of the world. Self pity, loss of self-esteem and self-criticism are not solutions in fact contrarily they are problems in their own right. Clarity of mind will occur when we stop degrading ourselves and blaming others for our problems. Only with such clarity shall we be able to move towards solutions.
"Put your future in good hands-your own", Author unknown. Let us abstain from criticising ourselves and boycott all media which only reports the worse of Pakistan. The civic society and the business community need to appreciate all that this country has given them rather than cribbing eternally, the time has come to repay the debt!