Violence of every form has gripped the entire country with no end to it at all in the near future. The word ‘violence’ has captured everyone’s mind making them believe that this is the thing Pakistanis have to go through forever. Headlines keep hitting everyday of several people being killed but still we rise every morning with a fresh start trying to change the status-quo with everyday struggle of fighting extremism with whatever we can.
Violence has caused a nervous breakdown of Pakistan with people fearing lack of investment and many other repercussions arising from it. These are probably hard times for a country like Pakistan where its industrial hub Karachi is being targeted by target killers and the government writ seems to be challenged there to a great extent. The government is handling such issues very casually as if a life costs nothing more than a few bucks.
In Karachi only the weak are murdered. Had there been any politician’s son or daughter among the victims, the situation would have been completely different. The high-ups think 100 or 200 people being killed won’t affect the entire population at large and think of such mass murdering incidents as a way to curb the ever-increasing population. They find joke in almost everything and we continue to suffer. In cases of violence, we can’t wait for America to define our role and find solutions for all our ills. It’s our problem and we need to collectively find solutions to our problems.
We need to stop mullahs who preach Islam of their own which instead gives rise to sectarianism and religious hatred among different religions. They are actually the biggest threat to the existence of Pakistan. They try to create confusions in an already confused society thus stunting our intellectual growth. We can’t let a single political party be at the helm of affairs in a province because if that particular party patronises target killers, then there won’t be any accountability and every unpleasant incident would happen without being checked. There must be a coalition government in every province.
We need to educate young minds and make them realise that ‘peace is the last resort for the survival of Pakistan’ and temporary violence won’t do any good for us. We are going through the worst phase in the history of Pakistan with the international media focusing on our weaknesses and portraying us as a violent country.
We want to change this perception of ours and focus on alternatives like performing arts and musical concerts. It’s only arts which can portray the softer image of the country across the globe. We can divert the world attention to our music and fashion industry by sending our people with musical background to other countries. And believe it or not, we can establish ourselves as a frontrunner country in South Asia by breaking the rule of violence.
HAIDER ALI
Karachi
