Insanity prevails!

The nation has been jolted awake. We were all enjoying the peaceful slumber of indifference, where anything happening outside our houses was someone else’s story. As long as we were spared, the suicide bombings hardly mattered. Security alerts, no more a cause for alarm. Rather, a usual occurrence. Turning on the television sets to find the flashing red news strips on the bundle of news channels was a routine matter. In fact, absence of a ‘breaking news’ would seem quite surprising now. As I said before, we were all sleeping soundly within the shells of our existences, cradling the indifferent attitudes. As a nation slept, the country descended deeper into chaos. It was not simply a matter of a number of days or months. The lava had been burning for many years now, and it finally erupted. 4^th of January happened!

The act itself was, well, just a murder. We hear of such atrocities everywhere on a daily basis. Yet when you have a governor on the receiving end, a grinning bearded man holding the gun, and all of it happening in broad daylight in the very heart of the capital, shock waves are generated at a very high frequency. Then you add the bit about the attacker being a security guard, detailed to the security of the very man whose life he took. Cast a glance at the very controversial past record of the man in question, what he was doing still wearing a uniform you might ask. The fact that none of the other guards on duty raised even a finger as the gunman emptied his bullets into the governor’s body. The self-confession and the reason given by the assassin. Now all this makes for some very disturbing news. Still, the worst is yet to come. The lowest point was achieved as we all received SMS after SMS of jubilatory tones, people distributing sweets on the streets, so-called educated minds condoning the murder. The upholders of the law and order of the country, the lawyers kissing the grinning, self-confessed murderer and showering him with rose petals. At the same time, many announced they would be representing the convict free of cost. Rallies taken out to celebrate the newest ‘hero’ for the masses, as the upholders of our religion openly condoned the murderer, declaring him the saviour, a ‘ghazi’. Insanity prevailed! Rather, it still does.

And while all this was going on, the few left of us who were appalled by this atrocious behaviour, could only wonder in amazement. What have matters come to! Is this the country we inherited from Jinnah and our ancestors? Are these the moral values we want passed on to our future generations? Were we all sadly mistaken when we were trying to convince the world that Pakistan is not a country of extremists? What we were calling just a small faction of the people, has turned into a much larger group. The basic ideas and values are the same, as we have seen from the nation’s reaction. What we had understood to be the views of only some madressah-taught men, are indeed the views of even the youngsters studying in the most prestigious universities in the country! How could this have happened? We were all so busy trying to convince the world that our religion is one that calls for peace. Killing and destroying holds no place. Yet we have negated all of that by our own actions. Yes, we have shown the world that we hold no sanctity of human life. Rather, we are barbarians who are celebrating the death of one man, and hailing the assassin as the nation’s newest hero! Try explaining to the world now, where the ‘peaceful religion’ has disappeared. You claim to represent Islam, you claim to represent Pakistan, I say, you represent neither! In reality, you are just an ugly smear on the face of humanity that needs to be wiped clean!

After 9/11, there were fears Pakistan might be bombed ‘back to the Stone Ages’. Well, I say that we do not need anybody’s help in doing that, thank you! We have taken huge leaps ourselves on the path to self-destruction. Today, in all manners of thinking and acting, we are living in dark times indeed, very dark!