Whither Rimsha!

A terror-afflicted country that offers little by way of hope

Lest some of us may have forgotten, Rimsha Masih is the name of the 14-year old down-syndrome-afflicted Christian girl who was wrongly accused of blasphemy and who has now been released by the Islamabad High Court and the FIR against her ordered to be quashed. The judgement has been given on the premise that there was no intent or mental condition that concurred with the act done and the consequences achieved. Rimsha’s ordeal that stretched to over three months included her incarceration for three weeks in an adults’ jail. Will this harrowing incident go down in the record books as just an annulment of FIR Number 303 dated August 16, 1012 registered under section 295-B of Pakistan Penal Court and forgotten, or would the sordid episode spur an introspective engagement unleashing some disturbing thoughts of what we have reduced this country to?

First to an allied side of the story: what will become of Qari Mohammad Khalid Chishti Jadoon, the man who wrongly accused Rimsha of carrying the burnt pages of the Qura’n to be disposed off? Like the Qadris of this country, will he be allowed to walk away free after having tried to falsely implicate a Christian girl? Or, will he be punished for his crime so that it becomes deterrence for others to be careful in their (mis)deeds?

Relatively, this would be a small matter in the context of the lopsided laws that have been systematically introduced in the country and their inhuman and pernicious practice in an environment that resonates with religious jingoism and obscurantism. Like in this case, the real intent of the accuser, in consort with other conspirators, was to drive the Christians out of the area and occupy their homes and lands. Religious prescription was used as a tool for usurpation.

The question is why? Simply because there are such laws in the country that can be easily exploited in the hands of the marauding bands of hate-spouting religious radicals and extremists for whom even the existence of people belonging to any other faith or creed is an anathema. Be it the Christians who are routinely subjected to blasphemy accusations, or the Hindus who are forced to flee the country in droves to take refuge in neighbouring India, or Hazaras who are mercilessly subjected to orgies of cleansing – the sickening spectacle only grows bloodier with the passage of time. All that we hear is a routine condemnation and the seeking of a report on the ‘incident’ by all shades of leaders hailing from across political divides. In certain cases, there is not even a routine condemnation for fear of losing the religious vote bank.

In the process, a country that was envisioned to be a civilized society comprising enlightened people living together in peace irrespective of their religious, ethnic and cultural identities has slumped to becoming a slaughter house of anything and everything that these ‘madrassah’-educated ‘graduates’ may not take a fancy to. Sunnis are out killing the Shias while the latter may be out hunting their own adversaries. Wahabis, Deobandis, Salafis and multiple other beliefs are perpetually and criminally engaged in an increasingly humiliating endeavour to stamp their brand of faith on everyone else. The ones who refuse to acquiesce are put to the knife, bullet or the bomb. Is there anyone there who would plead for revisiting laws that have irreversibly damaged the fabric of this society and its very rationale for existence?

To make the prescription even more venomous, there is this innate hatred for education lest people escape the obscurantist clutches and charter a course that may be more akin to the dream of the founding father. There have even been nefarious attempts to cast doubts on his epoch-making address to the Constituent Assembly on August 11, 1947 where he spelled out the contours of a country that he wanted to take shape – a country where religion would not be the regimenting force to bind people together. Instead, it would be treated as a personal matter while the state would deal equally and equitably with all people irrespective of their religious, cultural, social or ethnic identities. It was the dream of a country where justice would be dispensed indiscriminately to all, where equal opportunity would await every citizen, where forbearance would be the defining ethos, where peace would reign and where tolerance would be the transcending principle.

Back to Rimsha: I have tried hard to locate her and have discovered in the process that she cannot be accessed for fear of reprisals by zealots. What shame! Is it fear from the likes of the Qadris who are roaming the streets with crass abandon? Do we realize that a state that cannot protect its citizens loses its right to exist? States are recognised by their lawful authority that they put to use for ensuring the safety and security of its citizens. But, what would you say of a state that is languishing in the putrid juices of hatred that it has ever so systematically nurtured? What would you say of a state that has failed to protect its educational institutions and those innocent souls who go there to learn? What would say of a state that knows no peace and where enforcement of law is only for the underprivileged? What would you say of a state where the rich roam freely with their ill-gotten bounties and where accountability is to create avenues for criminals to escape?

This is the shape of a state that has lost its very rationale to survive. Pakistan has been badgered endlessly to lose its song of hope. It is adrift incessant torrents driving it into deeper seas without a way to escape. The course has been set, the direction defined and the speed determined. Given its inherently discriminatory laws and its penchant for blood, Pakistan is well on way to becoming irrelevant.

The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached at [email protected]