Candid Corner
- Deepening scars on the face of Pakistan
“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.”
– William Wilberforce
As the world celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, December 25 provided us here in Pakistan a sombre opportunity to ponder the legacy of the Quaid, 143 years after his birth and over 71 years after he closed his eyes for the journey hereafter.
Much has changed since those days. His trailblazing pronouncement to follow the principles of “unity, faith and discipline” has been changed to “faith, unity and discipline”. It was not just the sequence of words that was altered. “Faith”, originally reflecting confidence in one’s inherent ability to surmount challenges, was given a religious dimension.
His oft-quoted injunction that the state would have nothing to do with one’s religion has since been overtaken by the Objectives Resolution and the Blasphemy Law. He advocated for a liberal, progressive and egalitarian Pakistan where the state would not dispense on the basis of a citizen’s colour of skin, caste or creed. What we have instead is an embodiment of theocracy, regression and intolerance. He preached equity and equality as guidelines for progress, but Pakistan has since been reduced to becoming one of the most unjust, fanatical and bigoted countries in the world.
He wanted our diversity to be our strength saying “…and you will find that, in course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus, and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state”. Instead, we drove a wedge right in the middle separating Muslims from all other faiths, thus creating a chasm which has only grown with the passage of time.
The travails of Aasia Bibi are known throughout the world as a living testament of religious radicalisation within our society. But, this treatment is not only administered to the followers of other religions. Smitten by sectarian divides, members of the Muslim community are not spared as is evidenced by the case of Junaid Hafeez who has been sentenced to death for committing blasphemy. Held in solitary confinement for six years, his eventual fate is just as unknown as was that of Aasia Bibi when she was languishing in prison.
we should dispassionately review the horrible mess we have made of this country. A few moments of meaningful introspection may enhance our understanding, expand our perspective and generate the drive to reverse the tide
Amnesty International called the trial “a travesty”. Other rights groups have also taken strong exception to the award of death penalty to an academic through misuse of the blasphemy law.
The persistent problem with us is that the world may see it, but we don’t see it like that. It is as if nothing is wrong, and everything enacted in the name of religion has come from the heavens and, thus, must be practiced at its most vengeful. The story that started in March, 1948 with the adoption of the Objectives Resolution by the first Constituent Assembly declaring Islam to be the state religion and consigning the followers of other faiths to the “minority” status, has continued to germinate with time. Be it the blasphemy law, declaring the Ahmadi community non-Muslim, or a host of other discriminatory statutes, it is not a progeny that the state and its people can be proud of.
But to see it that way, we need to develop a different mindset and begin looking at things from a different perspective. That, some may say, is not possible, while others may dispute the very notion of there being anything wrong with the way we understand, and the way we see, things. This is an approach that we have been held hostage to through decades and there is not a ray of light that I see which would convince me that things may actually begin to change in the foreseeable future. In the meanwhile, the tentacles of bigotry and obscurantism would keep digging in deeper and, with time, we may become that much more obdurate in our refusal to change our perspective, and that much more intolerant to accept diversity in our midst.
Alongside making a passionate plea for the kind of Pakistan that he wanted to see, the Quaid also warned the people of three varieties of curses that could befall the fate of the country. The curse of bribery and corruption was on top of the list– a condition he said pre-partition India was already suffering from. The next in line was the curse of black marketing and the last on the list was the evil of nepotism and jobbery, a term for corrupt employment practices.
Now, if one looks around, these are the very curses which have plagued the country hollow in the last seventy-two years. Bribery and corruption are celebrated here. Justice is a purchasable commodity. Nepotism is a popular branded trademark used with gay abandon while crime is systematically solemnised. It is not individuals alone who have been afflicted with this scourge. Even the institutions of the state have fallen victim to this pestilence. The ones who land up in the arenas of power use their illicit billions to instil a culture of corruption through various strata of the society. That is how the ultimate division is created between the elite who have benefitted from their criminal indulgences and the poor who struggle to survive on the fringes. In addition to other ills which this inequitable dispensation has cultivated, it has also generated a hate syndrome in the society which has taken roots with the passage of time.
In the absence of a desire for change, we are likely to remain trapped in the spiral of regression, thus weakening us from within. In the event of inordinate prolongation of this phase, a change will nevertheless take place. But that change will not be one of our making, but sparked by the conditions that we have created. This change will ultimately overwhelm and consume us.
We have not been able to work for the Quaid’s Pakistan, but the kind of country that we have so laboriously created is plonked on wobbly foundations. It is not sustainable. It is a partisan and inequitable fabrication which works by the power and corruption of individuals, not by the enlightenment, vibrancy and justness of institutions. Our plunge into regression has sown seeds of doubt in the minds of people who have been at the receiving end of what the beneficiary elite have dispensed.
This has inscribed deepening scars on the face of the state. For the Quaid, Pakistan was an ‘Ishq’. For succeeding generations since, it has been a burden that they have tried hard to dispose of. There is little pride associated with the state as we remain squeezed in the stranglehold of the dreaded curses– symptoms reflecting a poisonous malaise. Instead of contributing to its perpetuation through our silence, we should dispassionately review the horrible mess we have made of this country. A few moments of meaningful introspection may enhance our understanding, expand our perspective and generate the drive to reverse the tide.
It’s not an easy task, but a task that has to be accomplished, that is if we really want to see the advent of a progressive and enlightened country dedicated to the welfare of its citizens without any discrimination. Otherwise, it is the hell that we live through.
