Earlier in 2011, the whole world stood amazed as protests shook various countries from North Africa to the Middle East. The revolution, that ousted Tunisian ruler Zine al Abeddine Ben Ali from Tunisia after 23 years of authoritarian rule, spread like wild fire. Mass protests brought about revolutionary change in Egypt and Libya, and caused political unrest in several other countries.
The riots in Tunisia are believed to have been sparked by the suicide of a young man who could not find a job, and was barred from selling fruit without a permit. 10 months later, an incident redolent of the one in Egypt, took place in Islamabad and bystanders waited for history to repeat itself. Raja Khan – a father of two – set himself on fire in front of the parliament, because he was fed up with his financial troubles. However, his self immolation went rather unnoticed because he belonged to a country where poverty, unemployment and social disparity are a norm rather than an exception. He belonged to a country which continues to be a silent bystander as foreign forces kill its people, or rather “suspected militants”, under the façade of fighting terrorism.
Revolts were not just restricted to the Arab or African world but also made an appearance in the developed world. Americans expressed their frustration in the form of “Occupy” movements all over USA, starting with “Occupy Wall Street”. The protests were against social and economic disparity, high unemployment, corporate greed, and corruption. All of these issues and many more, are prevalent in the Pakistani society. To make matters worse, Pakistan has had its share of natural disasters. IFRC president Tataderu Konoe predicted, in the beginning of 2011, that there might be political unrest in areas devastated by floods the year before. We clearly proved him wrong. Pakistani people have consistently endured food shortages, load shedding, sharp inflation, rising unemployment and wide scale corruption. Yet, other than occasionally chanting slogans and burning flags, there have been no major revolts. Are Pakistanis simply apathetic or have we lost all kinds of hope?
The point here is not to suggest all Pakistanis should get out on the streets and start a political upheaval. The point is to try to understand why we are so numb that nothing seems to concern us anymore. The only time I saw consciousness and uprising at a national level was when Pervaiz Musharraf ousted Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary in 2007. I was studying at the Lahore University of Management Sciences at that time and I could feel the vibe of restlessness and anger, along with faith and hope, in the air. I remember putting tapes on our mouth as a remonstration against the crackdown on media, holding a protest demonstration outside the Chief Justice’s house for days, and putting up videos and pictures of hundreds of students marching on the roads of Lahore online. That one decision, to fire the Chief Justice, acted as a catalyst to get millions of people out on the streets. Maybe we again need a thrust, just one shove, to push us off the cliff. The media played a colossal role in motivating the public at that time. Even now, the power of media cannot be undermined. A song “Aaloo Anday” recently went viral in Pakistan with tens of thousands of hits within a few days of being released on YouTube. BBC called it “one of the most biting and daring satires the country has seen in years”. This song provokes the need to understand current political discourse in Pakistan, laments the screwed up politics of our country, and at the same time, its wit forces a smile upon your face. Hopefully, it played a small, but significant, role in instigating the people of Pakistan to rise and, at the very least, acknowledge all things wrong with the country.
The writer is Johns Hopkins graduate. She is currently working with Bloomberg and can be reached at iqrashukr@gmail.com