Back in 1990, the doyen of centre-left politics in the country, Wali Khan, retired from active electoral politics after being defeated by Maulana Hasan Jan (a close confidant of Gulbedin Hekmatyar) in the polls held that year.
When asked his reason for retirement, he said that he had no place in politics “when the mullahs and ISI decide our destiny and politics.” Despondent as he might have been, he took a leaf out of his father’s book and didn’t discontinue the party or discourage the next generation of the party’s leadership, which included more than his son, from participating in politics.
A political lifetime later, in 2008, the ANP, which had been nigh decimated in the 2002 polls, came to power in NWFP.
In its misguided, Congress-era and NAP-era calculus, the party, still under the assumption that the proliferation of higher education would secure it votes, doubled the number of government degree colleges and built a network of chartered universities, one of which was named after Wali Khan.
It was there, at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan that Mashal Khan, a journalism student, was beaten, stoned and ultimately shot to death by an enraged mob on Thursday on allegations of blasphemy. Eye-witnesses say that the stoning did not stop even after he was killed.
Though the PTI and the JI allege that the university still has a lot of ANP members as faculty, the students themselves are from across the political divide. The ill-fated Mashal, however, seemed to be a Bacha Khan fan.
How do I know? Well, it’s all there, on Mashal’s Facebook profile.
If one is from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (regardless of ethnicity), Fata or the Pashtun part of Baluchistan (or Sindh), and is progressive, then chances are that one has had an ANP phase in life. Some move on, other stay. A minority from within those who do, dig up some of the literature from their erstwhile allied party across the Durand, the Khalq faction of the PDPA, some of which is unapologetic about its questioning of religion.
Poor Mashal, however, did not cross that line. Did he have bravado? Yes. He was at that age, wasn’t he? But his Facebook posts were a veiled allusion to his (possible) views, not clear descriptions. In the restrictive space of public discourse in the country, he had taken precaution, it appears.
Well, the events of Thursday show he didn’t take enough precaution. For the bar for what is acceptable keeps falling.
The incident at the Wali Khan varsity is more dangerous than the terrorist attack over at the Bacha Khan University in 2016. Then, armed terrorists had stormed the campus. Here, it were unarmed (barring one) students from within the campus. A Zarb-e-Azb to take out all the students of the country as well?
The cancer has set root deep in our society and seems inoperable. Maulana Hasan Jan, the politically unknown cleric whose managed entry into politics by the powers-that-be had upset Wali Khan so much, was himself assassinated in 2007 for his “moderate” views, which included a fatwa against suicide bombing. To repeat: the bar for what is offensive keeps moving lower and lower and is now out of the control of those who endorsed such elements in our society in the first place.
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For the benefit of those questioning how this is a media column.
The new interconnected age of social media has given the mainstream media a window into the lives of victims of recent tragedies.
Mashal Khan, quick with his camera and prolific in his Facebook posts, is a prime example of that.
Constantly changing profile picture, he had added the parenthetical title (Humanist) to his name.
Below, some lines from a brilliant, sensitive young man, whose life was cut short by a mob that day.
“Either grant me the bliss of the ignorant or give me the strength to bear the knowledge.”
“The difference between my darkness and your darkness is that I can look at my own badness in the face and accept its existence while you are busy covering your mirror with a white linen sheet. The difference between my sins and your sins is that when I sin I know I’m sinning while you have actually fallen prey to your own fabricated illusions. I am a siren, a mermaid; I know that I am beautiful while basking on the ocean’s waves and I know that I can eat flesh and bones at the bottom of the sea. You are a white witch, a wizard; your spells are manipulations and your cauldron from hell yet you wrap yourself in white and wear a silver wig.”
“The more I Know the people, The more I love my Dog.”
“To all the women in Pakistan who are working for change . Dont give up on your dreams . Your bravery and resilience In the face of such adversities is admirable ..”
“Instead of resisting to changes, surrender. Let life be with you, not against you. If you think ‘My life will be upside down’ don’t worry. How do you know down is not better than upside?”
“If you are black or you are brown or you are gay or you are lesbian or you are Trans or you are Introvert , Anyone that is treating you unkindly , It’s only because they are afraid or they have been taught to be afraid of how important you are.
because being different means you make a difference. so f*** em….”
And, what is now being deemed the most prophetic of his posts, a poem from the 5th of March.
میں لاپتا ہوگیا ہوں
کئی ہفتے ہوئے
پولیس کو رپورٹ لکھوائے
تب سے روز تھانے جاتا ہوں
حوالدار سے پوچھتا ہوں
میرا کچھ پتا چلا؟
ہمدرد پولیس افسر مایوسی سے سر ہلاتا ہے
پھنسی پھنسی آواز میں کہتا ہے
ابھی تک تمھارا کچھ سراغ نہیں ملا
پھر وہ تسلی دیتا ہے
کسی نہ کسی دن
تم مل ہی جاؤ گے
بے ہوش
کسی سڑک کے کنارے
یا بری طرح زخمی
کسی اسپتال میں
یا لاش کی صورت
کسی ندی میں
میری آنکھوں میں آنسو آجاتے ہیں
میں بازار چلا جاتا ہوں
اپنا استقبال کرنے کے لیے
گل فروش سے پھول خریدتا ہوں
اپنے زخموں کے لیے
کیمسٹ سے
مرہم پٹی کا سامان
تھوڑی روئی
اور درد کشا گولیاں
اپنی آخری رسومات کے لیے
مسجد کی دکان سے ایک کفن
اور اپنی یاد منانے کے لیے
کئی موم بتیاں
کچھ لوگ کہتے ہیں
کسی کے مرنے پر
موم بتی نہیں جلانی چاہیے
لیکن وہ یہ نہیں بتاتے
کہ آنکھ کا تارہ لاپتا ہوجائے
تو روشنی کہاں سے لائیں؟
گھر کا چراغ بجھ جائے
تو پھر کیا جلائیں؟۔۔۔
