Learn to put your demands
Here comes the French Mayor Robert Chardon: “We must ban the Muslim faith in France,” calling for governmental legislation that will ban Islam. He also said in one of his very recent statements that, “It’s the only solution for most of France’s problems,” and, “We also need a Marshall Plan to send Muslims to countries where the religion is practised.” This man is the Mayor of Venelles, a French town with a population of about 8,000 people, and according to the news reports and media, he is more righteous than any of the politicians in Paris.
French flag was projected on most of the profile pictures on Facebook as it made a display picture filter. The dilemma is not of the display picture (DP) filter, it is with the mindset of our youth who are changing their DPs without knowing anything about the reason as to why. Who are the forces controlling the minds of our youth and what is being injected in their brains? I think the issue again rests with our media. Let’s put this question to ourselves: Are we inculcating the right thoughts among our youth? Wake up, my dear Pakistanis, especially the youth infected by the social media. Being a true Muslim, after reading my opening lines, think for a while about the dire need to stand united and campaign on social media for the rights of other innocent souls.
Has any group from Pakistan questioned Facebook about why they never created a Palestinian, Pakistani, Lebanese, Yemeni, Burmese, African, Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan or any other country’s flag filter where hundreds die each month and are bombarded on daily basis? Who raised a voice to create a Pakistani flag filter after the attack on Army Public School in Peshawar on 16 December last year? Was there anything more brutal than that incident where scores of children were ruthlessly tortured, killed and teachers burnt alive?
Be it a Muslim or a non Muslim, all souls are precious. No soul deserves a death by terrorism. I condemn Paris attack on humanitarian grounds, and each of us should too, but not at the cost of discrimination. Pakistan has always stood up against the terrorists in the war against terrorism, Operation Zarb-e-Azab being the prime example in which many army officers have given away their lives.
Muslims have been killed brutally in Bangladesh, Egypt, Palestine, India and many other countries, but the extreme hypocrisy of western imperial mindset never raised any voice for this, nor did the social media. Most of the news pieces are not even taken up by the social media. Why this “selective” humanity and imperialistic mindset? I want to ask you, dear youth, why are you following it? This actually shows our devotion to nationalism, level of awareness, understanding of issues and polluted mindset. Are we going in the right direction? You should question yourself: Were there any Americans, British or French who changed their profiles to condole whatever is going on in these countries? How many of them supported and showed outrage on ISIS terror attacks in these countries by changing their profile pictures to the flags of these countries?
Dear youth, I’m not questioning your choice for changing display pictures, I am requesting you all to show care for human life, all human life, not just for those in Paris. Do these innocent souls not deserve recognition or humanitarian support like Paris? Why are their brutal deaths not highlighted or given outrage? Why do you close your eyes at other incidents?
Your minds are polluted by media projection. You all need to assess for yourself and understand what is right and wrong. Condemn the attacks wherever they happen, raise your voice on social media platforms and give all the attacks and brutalities an equal response. You have responded to what the social media demanded but learn to take a stand too. Speak for your country and other souls who depart unnoticed crying for someone to stand up for them. Try to make the best use of these media tools rather than merely following a trend. I ask you to be a trendsetter not a trend follower. Take up a stand for once and make the world follow you. Terrorism should be condemned everywhere, not just where social media chooses to report and the youth following it blindly. Try to bring humanity together for all innocent lives not just the ones the social media highlights.
