The political parties and their supporters have embarked upon a dangerous course of polarisation which is not going to be beneficial to anyone. The only beneficiary of such a situation can be the enemy. Are we knowingly/unknowingly strengthening the hands of the enemy? It is the responsibility of the leaders of all political parties as well as their supporters to ensure that the political temperature does not rise to a dangerous level.
It seems there is a competition among political leaders to excel in passing derogatory remarks and use foul, objectionable language, which has no justification at all.
If a party leader and his followers call the other parties and their leaders traitors, Mir Jaffar and Mir Sadiq, can you expect flowers from the other side? Is it fair to use derogatory words about the defenders of the motherland? Calling names and ridiculing the opponents will not bring laurels in return.
The shameful and most deplorable act of passing objectionable remarks about the martyred Pakistan Army officers and crew of military helicopter that crashed in Balochistan is unpardonable. To top it all, calling the rank and file to defy their seniors is, in fact, crossing the red line which cannot go unnoticed and unpunished.
The political leaders must be conscious of old sayings, ‘as you sow, so shall you reap’ and that ‘people who live in glass houses should not throw stones’. Who are they trying befool? They must remember the famous Abraham Lincoln quote: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
One cannot find anywhere in the world the kind of freedom these political leaders and their followers have been asking for, and, as per the famous political science principle, ‘your liberty ends where my nose starts’. Lastly, one must remember that there ought to be a reaction to every action, especially if the action is despicable.
Ironically, it has become customary that whenever people are caught for misappropriation or a misdeed, instead of facing the music, they try to justify their crimes by pointing fingers at others.
Can a thief, a murderer, or a rapist tell the judge that he cannot punish him till he gets hold of all the thieves, murderers and rapists? Can this be called a valid argument in the eyes of law? Whenever someone is charged for a crime or irregularity, he/she has to prove his/her innocence and without challenging the investigation under the pretext that many others had also committed such crimes/irregularities earlier.
Having said that, what is the way out? Enough is enough. We must stop calling each other traitors. We must stop ridiculing and calling names. One must stop taking refuge while avoiding to answer the questions being raised against them and calling others corrupt.
It is better late than never; everyone must maintain decency and decorum as expected of people’s representatives and national leaders.
However, law should be allowed to take its own course on the universal principle that everyone is innocent till proven guilty.
LT-COL (RETD) SYED IFTIKHAR AHMED
KARACHI
