The slap

It represents what is wrong with the system

Having slapped her way into infamy, will Waheeda Shah now be slapped with a conviction by the Supreme Court, or merely get a slap on the wrist?

Ms Shah has already lost all respect, so she might as well lose her seat too. The slap that was heard around Pakistan is now boomeranging to leave her black and blue as she bears the brunt of a public whiplash which the likes of her rarely get to taste. Bon appetite, Ms Shah. You have surely earned what’s coming your way.

The PPP politician from rural Sindh now has an FIR against her, and a date with the judges, who on normal days are grumpy, angry and glowering. So for Ms Shah, the SC hearing ain’t gonna be a walk in the park. Sadly the judges, with all the constitutional power at their disposal, do not have the power yet to slap their way to justice. Otherwise this would have been a textbook case for flexing such constitutional muscles.

Waheeda Shah did not murder anyone. Nor did she cripple, or paralyse or lobotomise anyone. But if she didn’t inflict serious physical injury on her hapless victim, she made up for this inadequacy by tearing into the victim’s dignity and self-respect. She humiliated her with a nonchalance that is borne of a life of privilege and power, and which breeds a contempt that it so richly deserves.

But it was just a slap, her PPP apologists say. And people get slapped around every minute of every day in this country of ours. So what is the big deal?

The big deal is that Waheeda Shah’s slap has come to symbolise much that is rotten in this class-ridden system which perpetuates the hold of the social and political elite over those who are weak, vulnerable and unprotected. Such Pakistanis are fair game for the predatory state, and the rapaciously power-hungry politician. These weak, vulnerable and unprotected Pakistanis get maltreated, abused, manipulated, exploited and humiliated as a matter of habit by the elites and those who are fed fat on unchecked state power.

In fact, this skewed relationship between the powerful and the weak is so deeply entrenched in this soil that a vast majority accept it as a way of life. That’s how it’s always been through the ages and that’s how it will remain, goes the belief. The right to abuse, say the powerful, is a right ingrained within the concept of power itself. What good is power, they argue, if it doesn’t mean getting one’s own way.

Does culture add to this loathsome mix? The housewife slaps the maid, the thanedar slaps the detainee, the officer slaps the subordinate, the feudal slaps the teacher, the teacher slaps the student… the list goes on and on. The relationship between the ‘slapper’ and the ‘slappee’ is the same: powerful vs weak. If this be the reality, then what Waheeda Shah did was in tune with the social and cultural norms that she has always adhered to.

While this line of argument may conform to a traditional belief system which defines a grim reality, it is in essence grotesquely wrong.

Simple enough: laws of the land trump all norms, beliefs and traditions. Laws exist to level the playing field for everyone. But when laws are not applied uniformly, norms, beliefs and traditions trump them. Case in point: Waheeda Shah.

This Sindhi feudal PPP politician probably slaps people around her all the time. Who knows, maybe she even beats her dog and cat. She does this because she knows she can. And because she knows those weaker to her politically, socially or financially cannot respond in kind. Notice the policemen in her slapping footage standing next to her with a dumb expression on his face. He’s the face of law there. But Waheeda Shah knows that she is the local political grandee in the area, and this dumb cop is subservient to her because the law he represents and executes is subordinate to her. So she slaps the woman doing her electoral duty. Ms Shah knows that if anything, the dumb cop will approve of the slap. After all, he slaps people around as a matter of routine. And the dumb cop looks at Ms Shah’s slapping spree as if it’s the most natural thing to do in those surroundings. State power and political power locked in a vicious nexus to slap around a Pakistani who has no power.

Waheeda Shah belongs to the ruling PPP. Her party and its government are mumbling inanities which stink of nauseating justifications for Ms Shah. This breed of people is now lording over the destiny of this hapless nation. Byproducts of a fundamentally unjust system, such politicians and such governments continue to perpetuate a social structure that resists change, progress and modernity. But how long can they plug a hole in the dam with their fingers?

Waheeda Shah may have slapped a weak Pakistani woman. But now the Pakistani nation is slapping Waheeda Shah back till she goes blue in the face.

The writer hosts a primetime talk show on ARY News. He has worked as Director News of Express News and Dunya News and Editor The News, Islamabad. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @fahdhusain