AMJAD Islam Amjad wrote a play called Yahan say sheher ko dekho, or ‘view the city from here’. Though I am one of those who have never seen the play performed, the title suggests to me the value of perspective and how that changes, depending upon the vantage point of the observer.
This is the sentence that echoes in my head whenever I find myself dwelling upon the nature and nurture of the state of Pakistan — and that, as you can imagine, is an exercise that takes places often. From within Pakistan, a certain franticness, desperation and pressing concern about all the troubles that exist and continue to be created here underlie one’s perspective.
One must perforce consider the causes and consequences of terrorism, militancy and crime, for example, given that their
effect is everywhere around us — a clear and present danger that stalks all Pakistanis every minute of the day.
effect is everywhere around us — a clear and present danger that stalks all Pakistanis every minute of the day.
I recently visited a school in Karachi which is very near the house of the Crime Investigation Department SSP Chaudhry Aslam. The house was bombed to near-total destruction two weeks ago. One corner of the junior school’s parking lot is occupied by the twisted, burnt-out hulks of vehicles destroyed in the blast, piled on top of each other to remind every child and adult that all is very far from being well. As a lesson from the school of hard knocks, few things could surpass that sight.
Similarly, one must perforce ponder the purpose of education in the context of the Pakistan of today, haunted as it is by illiteracy, wilful delusion and ignorance on the part of even the lettered.
It is hard not to, given that this is a place where, again to take just one example out of a legion, a self-confessed murderer such as Malik Mumtaz Qadri is feted by members of a community that is, on paper at least, amongst the most highly educated tiers of society and whose job description entails upholding the law.
How not to be aware of the consequences of poor planning and policymaking when everyday is replete with them? No need to cite examples here; each one of us has our favourite ones lined up close at hand, ready to mention at every opportunity. And similarly, how not to be aware of the harm that mischief-making legislation can do, or be aware of how difficult — if not downright impossible — it is to reverse what has already been articulated as law?
Let it not escape anyone’s attention, after all, that although Salmaan Taseer’s killer was awarded the death sentence by an anti-terrorism court on Saturday, the issue — the need for a parliamentary review of the blasphemy law — that killed Mr Taseer has quietly been put aside by politicians, civil society and the media.
Who dares bring it up again when what is at stake is your very life, particularly given that Mr Qadri’s sentencing, which was
carried out behind closed doors in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi, was reportedly accompanied by dozens of people shouting slogans in support of the condemned man? Much wiser, then, to keep one’s head down and one’s thoughts private, for in this land an idea can kill you.
carried out behind closed doors in a high-security prison in Rawalpindi, was reportedly accompanied by dozens of people shouting slogans in support of the condemned man? Much wiser, then, to keep one’s head down and one’s thoughts private, for in this land an idea can kill you.
The same can be said of the dangers inherent in misplaced and mischief-making ideologies, constructed to suit certain circumstances but then allowed to grow unchecked into monsters with murder in their hearts.
The Taliban of today were the jihadis of yesterday after all. And thanks to a sustained PR-cum-indoctrination campaign that has been honed to perfection over decades, the institution that bleeds the country dry — sucks up the funds that could go towards development — remains in many quarters the most lionised of all, in a population that is half deceived and half wilfully self-deceiving.
Skittishness born of unease comes quite naturally to most Pakistanis, I imagine, since so often the light at the end of the tunnel proves to be a fire. And not unsurprisingly, people’s proximity to the flames prevents them from being able to take a step back and get a perspective on how far outside the pale this country’s realities actually are as compared to large parts of the world.
For let’s not forget that while today there is no shortage of people and rankings that put the country in the same category as the globe’s failed or failing states, a few decades ago this country was feted as being a model of development, making its way towards prosperity.
In the Pakistan of today, what passes for public discourse has degenerated to the most basic, and most self-evident, of points.
Tried and tested formulas, proved as successful many times over, have to be cautiously suggested as though they are daringly new.
My favourite one is education: the saner voices point out ‘people, it’s a good thing! Investment in this sector pays off. Really, believe it’. Similarly, differentiating between ‘good’ militants/terrorists and ‘bad’ ones? Ten different kinds of wisdom dictate there is no such thing. Don’t do it. Hunting with the hounds and running with the hare, as Pakistan is accused of continuing to do? Don’t do that, guys, it’s unethical and it’ll catch up with you. And the best one: you can fool some of the people some of the time but ….
And yet, why should anyone be listening? Pakistan, after all, is a curious place where a small but powerful vested interest group has managed to keep most of the population fooled pretty much all of the time, with those left out of that net usually subjecting themselves to wilful self-deception.
This situation is not specific to Pakistan, of course, a case in point being the manner in which narrative is being shaped in the US, for example, about Pakistan. Yet the problem remains: as with people, a country’s sins too catch up. Whether deceived or deceiving, the end result is often the same. And they usually catch up faster with poorer parties that operate from a tenuous footing.
Source: Dawn News