Ali K. Lashari

As Pakistan celebrates 79 years of freedom, it is worth asking a deeper question: What does freedom really mean?

Freedom is not merely the ability to celebrate, raise a flag, or speak without fear. True freedom also means having the courage to think, question, learn, disagree respectfully, and search for truth.

More than 2,400 years ago, the great Greek philosopher Socrates devoted his life to these very principles.

Socrates did not write books himself. His ideas are known largely through the writings of his students, particularly Plato. He spent his life asking people questions about justice, knowledge, morality, truth and what it means to live a good life. His famous philosophical approach—questioning assumptions rather than simply accepting them—is known today as the Socratic Method.

Socrates famously challenged people who considered themselves wise. His philosophy was based on intellectual humility: the recognition that we must first understand the limits of our own knowledge.

He is associated with the profound statement:

“I know that I know nothing.”

In 399 BC, Socrates was put on trial in Athens. The formal accusations included impiety toward the city’s gods, introducing new divine ideas, and corrupting the youth. His questioning and influence over young Athenians had made him controversial. He was eventually sentenced to death.

When his friends offered him an opportunity to escape, Socrates refused. He chose to remain faithful to his principles and his understanding of justice. He eventually drank hemlock and died.

His death did not end his philosophy.

Instead, it made his questions immortal.

What does Socrates have to do with Pakistan today?

Perhaps more than we realize.

Pakistan today needs a generation of young people who do not simply follow every voice they hear. We need young people who ask questions, verify information, respect differences, value knowledge, and think critically.

In an age of social media, misinformation, political polarization and emotional debate, the lesson of Socrates is especially relevant. We should not teach our youth merely what to think; we should teach them how to think.

Questioning should not automatically be treated as rebellion.

A young person who asks difficult questions about education, governance, justice, culture, science, history or society is not necessarily working against the country. On the contrary, responsible questioning can be an expression of patriotism—because a nation cannot progress without citizens who care enough to ask how it can become better.

Pakistan’s Independence Day should therefore be more than a celebration of the past. It should be a commitment to the future.

Our freedom must produce knowledge.

Our knowledge must produce responsibility.

Our responsibility must produce a better society.

The youth of Pakistan are not merely the future of the country; they are already part of its present. They must be given the space to learn, research, create, question and contribute.

The real tribute to the sacrifices that created Pakistan is not only to remember 1947. It is to build a Pakistan where knowledge is respected, justice is valued, disagreement is handled with dignity, and every young person has the confidence to seek truth.

Socrates reminds us that a society becomes stronger when its citizens examine their lives and their institutions rather than accepting everything blindly.

So, let us give our young generation a different message:

Do not be afraid to ask questions.

Do not stop learning.

Do not confuse criticism with hatred.

Do not confuse disagreement with disloyalty.

And never stop searching for truth.

Because the greatest form of independence is not simply being free from external control.

It is becoming intellectually free.

And perhaps that is the kind of freedom that Pakistan’s youth need most today.

May our freedom be guided by knowledge, our knowledge by wisdom, and our wisdom by responsibility!

Read: The Pursuit of Happiness

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Ali K. Lashari is an Archaeologist & Cultural Heritage Advocate 

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