How does one remember a painful experience?
A deep, personal question, to which everyone reading this might have a different answer. And to that answer, they are entitled.
But collective, national tragedies, like the APS attacks of 2014, are bound to be remembered publicly and with that, there is always going to be a disagreement on the exact manner in which they are commemorated.
Before even discussing the APS tragedy itself, the very first question of whether one event deserves to be remembered more than others needs to be addressed.
The Meena Bazaar suicide blast of the same city, whose victims were mostly women and children, yielded a similarly high casualty rate. This might appear to be what-about-ery, but it isn’t. Because the policy conclusion of both (of fighting the terrorists) remains the same. I am just suggesting that perhaps all the endless footage of talking heads on TV saying that the APS attacks “opened our eyes” and “got us all on the same page” must seem atrociously insensitive to the families of the victims of the previous events.
To the issue at hand: the airwaves have all been duly devoted to covering the remembrance of the terrible events of last year.
More than one TV anchor has broken down and started crying during this coverage. Barring the most jaded of cynics, no one would question the intensity of the feelings involved.
Yet, as is the norm, there will always be disagreements. For instance, Geo’s decision to make the newscasters wear the APS uniforms seemed a tad gimmicky to some. But to others, it seemed genuine and heartfelt. The argument of the supporters: any vocal remembrance of any sad incident, even those of religious significance, is going to be accused by someone, somewhere of being gimmicky.
Any vocal remembrance of any sad incident, even those of religious significance, is going to be accused by someone, somewhere of being gimmicky
But Geo’s own Amir Liaquat had another nuanced point against his channel’s style.
The gist of his argument: I understand the gesture. But are you going to be reading out the entertainment news in these uniforms as well? Are you also going to be reading out the lighter fluff pieces like this as well? If so, it would be offensive to the families of the victims. Seeing a newscaster in an APS uniform, cheerfully reading out the release figures of Shah Rukh Khan’s Dilwale after the initial spate of APS stories in the bulletin are over.
But that is the problem with public remembrances. At the memorial museum of the Auschwitz concentration camp, there is, I assume, a tuck shop. Is one bound to feel sad when munching on the packet of chips one has procured from there?
Those criticising Geo’s decision on Facebook, say, would leave an angry comment on the respect of the day and scroll down to click open a video of, yes, Dilwale.
It is said that the ability to forget, even if momentarily, is something that the Almighty Himself has forged into our minds. This is an ability to be thought of as a critical organ, like the liver, whose failure leads to a deterioration in the quality of one’s life.
Being too sad, not being sad enough, being sad in the wrong way, not being sad at all. Problems of an era where even the truest of our feelings can be caricatured.
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Should the nation be on the same page in times of national tragedies?
Yes.
No.
Yes, because if there has been prior inaction regarding an issue that has been building up over the years, then let the silver lining of the sad incident be its ability to jolt a polity out of said inaction.
No, because there shouldn’t be an in-sync orchestra regarding what to do on any important issue. In the hysteria that ensues after horrific events, there is much jingoism, the sort that usually cedes power to unrepresentative elements, in our case, the army, though it was already calling the shots.
Following what was presumably an intelligence lapse, the deep state is somehow even more strengthened, with not many having the liberty to ask them about the progress in the war against terror without being shouted down.
You might think this column is being written by a paid agent of anti-state elements.
But what would you say about Abid Raza Bangash, the head of the association set up by the APS victims’ parents. Asking questions about the security lapses in said incident, he said he was asked by the army, directly and indirectly, to remain quiet.
He was also asked, he said, to shut down his organisation.
The parents’ association is making things tough for itself by not blaming the federal government and, despite some gripe against the KP police, is not blaming the provincial government either. It is the army that is being questioned.
No number of warnings about flying too close to the sun seems to be able to work their magic on bereaved parents.
*****
“Never Forget, Never Forgive” is the line we keep hearing.
A neat, tight, Twitter-friendly phrase to say when talking about the APS incident.
But it is not really clear who, exactly, we aren’t going to forget.
Don’t let individual incidents of crackdowns on this militant or that throw you off the scent of the deep state’s narrative around India and Afghanistan. That remains unchanged. And don’t expect the local news media to tell you otherwise
The media is also awash with pundit after pundit saying how things have changed now and how we will avenge the events of last December.
Yet, very little by way of news media content on the aftermath, whether it is reporting or discussion. Just breezily read out ISPR press releases that read like the weather report of far off lands.
The fact of the matter is that if you have good Taliban, you will have bad Taliban. And if you have bad Taliban, there is enough of money going around to ensure they will do their thing. Don’t let individual incidents of crackdowns on this militant or that throw you off the scent of the deep state’s narrative around India and Afghanistan. That remains unchanged.
And don’t expect the local news media to tell you otherwise.
Expect them to go after the usual suspects, like the Indians, as Talat Hussein has done. He chastised entertainment show hosts for taking Bollywood stars on their show on the day after the APS anniversary, even though “we place, if not 100 percent, but 50 percent blame, on India, which carried out this incident through the Afghan intelligence agencies”.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
The more things change, the more they stay the same…
