Sunday 5 June 2011

To Each His Own...


Too much information will kill you. So will honor. And power. Truth too. In Pakistan, too much of anything will kill you. Unfortunately however, this tale of tragedy leaves many unmoved.

Imagine waiting for your husband to return home for three days and then opening the doors to let in his bruised body. Dead. Put yourself in a mother’s shoes who fed her son breakfast one morning in July 2010, and come June 2011, still waits for him to come home, so she can cook him his favorite meal. Think of a woman who died at the hands of her husband for reasons best known to him. Consider holding on to a picture, sometimes outside Press Clubs; at other times, in front of our sovereign Parliament. Images of those who went missing so long ago that when asked for a recent picture, you show curious onlookers a family shot of happy times. That one image has been framed and re-framed, the glass broken because it has traveled far and wide – the hands that clutch on to the picture however, tell a different story. Then there is the story of a mother who had ordered a Sherwani for her son’s wedding, but now wraps him up in yards of white, for a destination destined for martyrs.

There are so many stories in Pakistan. Sad ones. Of pain and loss. Of murder and martyrdom. They aren’t as exciting as operations in Abbottabad or PNS Mehran. They aren’t as intriguing as the rumors regarding an Al-Qaeda connection within the army ranks and are definitely not as thrilling as debating drones on national television.

But these tragic accounts demand attention. Pakistanis bleed day and night but no one has the time to mourn. We would rather moan than mourn any day. From the unexpected floods in the Punjab to electricity outages, our country has an endless supply of hyper-ventilating hardliners who will shout out against the US and its ‘evil’ friends, Israel and India. Not a week goes by without people lodging their protest against the source of our trouble. The order of the day: “Stop Drones or suspend NATO supplies!” A unanimous resolution on the floor of the house condemning drones however, proved even more pointless than a few hundred people chanting anti-US slogans. Because around the same time, at least 200 trucks were loaded, checked and escorted out from Karachi Port under the watchful eye of our police. Ignorance? It is bliss.

Ignorance however, does not explain inefficiency. More than 38,000 Pakistanis have died in incidents of terrorism that have little to do with what we are rallying against. It has more to do with the flawed and deceitful policies of those who back these rallies.  Their tales of connivance have kept blood pumping into Jihadist outfits, kept the ‘good’ Taliban at bay, treated the ‘bad’ Taliban well and allowed banned groups to flourish under the garb of humanitarian assistance. Our state policy is eating up the state. So, where to from here?

Nowhere really. In Pakistan, it’s always back to square one. A welfare state for Muslims, Pakistan, is now a security state. That has been the status quo since the first military take over in 1958. In 1979, Pakistan was introduced to the Carter Doctrine and gave birth to the ‘Jihadi’ - for the US, with love. Déjà vu in 2001 –General Musharraf’s tenure welcomed Jihadis from across the globe. Pakistan’s military forefathers backed terrorism as an instrument of policy, arguably to save their people. And it is for the safety of Pakistan’s national interests and strategic assets that they continue to dictate the country’s foreign policy. And it is perhaps owing to the shallow nature of our governing class, that they like to penetrate within depths that will safeguard our future role in Afghanistan. Perfect timing because our future in Pakistan is so well taken care of.

With our establishment losing sleep over keeping the state’s security intact, the PML (N) is worrying about Punjab’s safety. Not long ago, Shahbaz Sharif was almost pleading to the Taliban to spare Punjab from terrorism. Spare Punjab. Not Pakistan.

Then there’s the politics of asylum. The MQM takes full custody of a city that they share with the ruling government. They will not allow anyone to enter it if it does not suit them, be it the Chief Justice of Pakistan, a rival political party or even the resident of the province. That’s how well guarded their area is. Ownership: MQM style. Beyond the ownership of provinces, however, there are also those who pride themselves in being the guardians of Pakistan’s ideology. Strangely enough, the Jamaat-e-Islami and the JUI stand guard to the ideology of a state that they stood against the creation of. Their ‘ownership’ goes only as far as to dictate our dogma. Our way of life is their business; our life, meaningless.

Our beliefs have an owner and our provinces are owned but there is no ownership of the people dying in terrorism-related incidents everyday. How many more lives need to be lost for Imran Khan to dedicate his sit-ins to not just drone attacks? Who will come forward and participate in the silent protest of families of missing persons? When will humanity take over provincial selfishness? Why are we so blatantly divided that those raising their voices against Dr. Afia Siddiqui’s illegal detention in the US do not stand to defend Asiya Bibi, or vice versa? Why can’t both be considered victims of persecution?

Why cant those who take a stand against America, defy the Taliban? After all, neither of them means us well. Why can’t the champions of conservatism find place for a moderate thinker to co-exist amongst them? These are valid questions and need to be raised. The media can help narrow this divide. But, how can the media be the harbinger of change when there is no tolerance for truth. If a journalist knows too much, he will meet a fate similar to Moosa Khan’s, Wali Babar’s or more recently, Saleem Shahzad’s. How many more have to die for our state and its custodians to realize that our loss is their loss. Too much ownership will kill us, just as sure as none at all.