No society can expect to move forward on its agenda of modernisation and progress without letting go of its inherent fear and inhibitions about its traditions. This is of great importance to our own society in Pakistan where we often hear stories like the following: A man is shot dead, his women violated and his house burnt to the ground. A young girl Samina is married to the Holy Scripture, another in a nearby village tells the horrific tale of Karo Kari, while the third, she didnt even live to tell her tale. She was buried at birth because her father couldnt be responsible for another liability. These scenes are repeated over and over again in the jungles of Bosnia, in the valleys of Kashmir, on the plains of Iraq and any other places. In fact they happen right outside our doorstep, and yet we remain silent and stare on.
In our routine life, we read about Samina and dozens others. We learn how corruption and the drive for wealth are crumbling us as a nation. We see how fraud and bribery seem to be fashion statements. How adultery and fornication have become common. After reading all this in newspaper, we fold the paper, forget about all this in a minute, just to get that satisfaction of being done with the paper.
And then another day, another story, another cry, another paper.
Since time immemorial, the words barbaric and uncivilised have been synonymous to our race. The assassination of Able, the crucifixion of Jesus, the martyrdom of Hussain, the countless Jews murdered in the gas chambers by Nazis, and the piles of innocent bodies in Iraq. We bear witness to all these tragedies. We dont deny them, we accept them. We protest. We raise an opinion, but when were threatened, we silently succumb to our cocoons.
It has become a story of each of us. Us as an audience, us as a nation, us as a civilisation; whichever way we look at it, we have failed miserably. We have failed in using our brain for positive and progressive purposes. We have wrongly analysed each time what we lack. We have mistaken ourselves in believing to have discovered our strength. Man has failed in its higher moral and divine purpose, more or less.
Envisaged by this envelop of contentment we live with a pseudo identity. We are so attached to all of what this world has to offer that a day without our wealth and our society, we might succumb worse than Rome.
If Nelson Mandela was fearful, Africans wouldnt have liberty of freedom in their homeland, and if Jinnah was scared, maybe we wouldnt be voicing our opinions here today. The US President Obama did the same for his countrys Afro-American population.
None of these men shared an identity, none shared the same surname, not professions, but what they did have in common, was the will. The will to let go of fear. The will to let go of the cuffs around their ankles and their wrists. To break away from their chains and to stand up for themselves. And they brought about change, no doubt.
HAIDER ABBAS
Aitchison College, Lahore
