More than a year ago, seven months before her examinations, an A level student from Lahore Grammar School Johar Town, girls branch died of reportedly natural causes.
The incident shook a small, closely knit student body, and the wider community of A level students was met with the harsh reality of life’s uncertainty, somethings that rarely disturbs those so young. There were prayers, hurt, comfort and more than a few tears and confusing emotions.
And that is where the matter should have ended. Her name should have stayed out of the papers, off the television channels, and only within private on social media.
After all, there was no foul play, no police involvement, no accusations, and no bad blood: the mother even went to the school to give a speech to the student body, thanking the administration for their support.
Beneath the tragedy of the life of an 18 year old being snuffed out so unceremoniously, it was as smooth as could be, and the girl was allowed to rest in peace.
That is, until Wednesday night, when a certain television anchor decided he is waging a ‘jihad’ against ‘the private education mafia’ which was responsible for ‘killing’ the girl.
Of the 37 minute run time of the entire show, the first 12 are dedicated to him. Complete, unhindered yet clearly practiced rage. One can just imagine the guests he is going to introduce sitting in stony silence well outside the scope of the camera – firmly focused on that neat mustache and sideways squint.
He goes on to tell us that hundreds, if not thousands, of parents have come to him to help them with their kid’s school problems. And then, he brings out the mother of the same girl that died a year ago, to tell you how the girl’s school had been the cause of her death.
Born in another time, Mubasher Lucman could have made a career playing leads in Shakespearian tragedies, so perfect he would have been for the regular soliloquys.
But in this one, he delivers on national television what was essentially nothing more than a rant, a rant in which he uses a grieving mother as an accessory.
Along with him and his guest, there were two more parents, one of them jaang group journalist Saabir Shah, ready to complain about their children’s schools, an activity one would imagine is not particularly difficult.
The entire episode was a vague and uninformed discussion about high fees, incompatible facilities and learning standards, all judged critically and with the intention of berating. It can best only be described as a privileged-uncle rant between Mubasher and Sabir Shah. Both complain about the private schools they send their own kids to, and both don’t seem to understand how they operate or what, if any, the alternatives are.
He even threatened to ‘expose’ the names of 34 parents that refused to come on his show so “their children know that their parents could not raise their voice for them.”
And in the middle of it all the mother of a dead girl relives the horror of losing her daughter, a prop to the incoherent ramblings of two men with too much time and rage on their hands. One wonders why she’s there and why she would agree to this. But then again. few can imagine the position she’s in.
She speaks on her own, but ever the master craftsman, the anchor nudges her, pushes her into the spotlight with the subtlety of a sledgehammer from behind. The mother, through her grief, says things that do not make much sense.
Her teachers, administrators, peers and others in the LGS, Beacon House, Aitchison circuit told Pakistan Today/DNA that the girl passed away well before her exams were to be conducted. What stellar result was the mother then talking about? If she did give the exams privately, why and how was she still a part of the student body? Why would teachers, dependent on a healthy class size, tell a brilliant student not to take their class? Teachers do differ in methodology, but the school’s success depends upon students taking up subjects, and such behaviour would never be tolerated by a business minded administration.
Whatever the answers, and perhaps they lead to serious implications for the accused, this show does not do much for the credibility. Especially the incoherence. Even worse, Mubasher raises the elephant in the room himself, how indeed does a physically healthy teenager die of a heart attack?
One thinks again why the mother would be so willing to bring up the topic and blame the school she earlier thanked after her daughter’s death. But then they are reminded of how he threatened the 34 parents, and how he must have encouraged her to say the things she did.
All that aside, because of the show, the topic which had been buried with dignity was dug up once again and attacked, defended and explained from all angles. Long statuses in defence and in support, claims of proximity and accusations of ignorance are rampant. Whatever the her real story, many versions of it are being discussed. And if one thing is for sure, it is that Mubashir Lucman is to blame. The life and death of this young lady is out in the open to be dissected by anyone that wishes too because of him.
The questions are naturally endless. The answers are ugly, especially if those close to the deceased are to be believed. There are no clear answers, and its nothing short of a mess. And while the school will probably never be implicated, questions are rising about the incident and they will not lead to answers Mubasher Lucman wants them to. Only to more pain and whatever the reverse of closure is.
