For better or worse, the amplification accorded to a voice is seldom commensurate with the rationality of the views it espouses. This fact has never been truer than in the present times; an age of powerful media linked with powerful interests. With limited air time and printing space available, the voices that do receive attention end up carrying a certain significant weight.
During the past week a number of voices attacked my ears but a few stood out in particular- the observance of the Kashmir Solidarity Day, the sad fact of Sherry Rehman withdrawing the Bill for the amendment of the law on blasphemy and the curious case of Raymond Davis. Life in Pakistan can be accused of being everything else but uneventful. Here is what these recent events and the associated voices made me think.
There is nothing wrong with showing solidarity with the people of Kashmir or condemning the human rights abuses carried out by the Indian Army/security forces. However, as with all observances, what matters regarding February 5th is our motive. Kashmir is a disputed territory and there is no doubt about that but the territory that is disputed includes the part of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan. Furthermore, the people of Pakistan-controlled Kashmir may wish to be independent as well but apparently that is something we are not expressing solidarity with.
But even if one chooses to talk about our stance towards only the Indian-occupied Kashmir, it becomes clear that Kashmir represents most of what is wrong with our thinking regarding national security. It started out as a territorial dispute but what would be the fun without religion and war? We have somehow infused the debate over the territorial dispute of Kashmir with religion. That is the worst thing that we could have done to the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir and, voila, we went ahead and did it.
We had an infinitely better chance of winning the debate on Kashmir and its peoples right of self determination had the dispute remained secular and about territory. By turning it into one about religion, we not only attacked it in a way that is and will remain unacceptable to India but allowed groups like the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) to be seen as the purported freedom fighters for the disputed region. This religion infested discourse not only made things worse for the Muslim population of India in general and Kashmir in particular but also lent legitimacy to the LeT and its various off-shoots.
Hundreds of thousands of our youth have now been fodder to the ideology spouted by the likes of Hafiz Saeed and his supporters in the State. LeT has been banned numerous times but it refuses to go away because our State and our establishment lack the will to take it on. Jamaat-ut-Daawa (JuD) continues to run its schools and spreads its curriculum in a way that affects millions while we watch idly.
In the early afternoon of the 5th of Feb, the area around Data Darbar, Mall Road and Nasir Bagh in Lahore had nothing but LeT and JuD activists. As far as my eyes could see, I saw their flags. Rows upon rows of buses were offloading the believers from the jihadi machine. You and I stayed at home while Hafiz Sahab led out his troops. It seemed that the children of the beast (the State) were ready to eat the beast and they already are in so many ways. The Punjab Government and its law enforcement agencies watched in silence as thousands of LeT and JuD flags were waved and the brainwashing of our youth and annihilation of their futures was celebrated, all in the name of solidarity with Kashmiris.
At the same time, the Prime Minister of this country felt obliged to say time and time again that the government had no intention of allowing anyone to amend the law on blasphemy. So we can celebrate an ideology of hatred, death and destruction but even a debate on a law that is applied in a most discriminatory fashion is out of the question. Voices matter. The loudest ones control yours and mine for now too. Will we ever act?
In the same vein and spirit, the media and the religious parties have refused to carry out any reasonable debate regarding Raymond Davis. The hard fact is that if Mr. Davis is a diplomat, then he has immunity. Where were these voices against the grant of immunity when a diplomat from this country, posted at the United Nations, was charged with the crime of assaulting a woman? We got our man back then and no one in this country even whispered a protest in favour of womens rights or another countrys sovereignty.
They say that man is the most afraid of contradicting himself. But our love of hatred and abandonment of rational thinking has set us free from this fear. We are now enslaved to ourselves, our senseless rhetoric and the celebration of a future that threatens the very core of our existence.
The writer is a Barrister of Lincolns Inn and practices in Lahore. He has a special interest in Anti-trust / Competition law. He can be reached at wmir.rma@gmail.com