The time has come to consider the nature of our society and what is happening to it. We appear to have descended into a frenzy of madness and wonder if anyone can save us from it. Certainly, things seem to be getting worse by the day.
The latest evidence of this comes in an incident at the village of Seeta in Dadu, where a man accused of desecrating the Holy Quran was snatched away from police custody and burnt alive by a mob as law enforcers looked on, failing to act to save him. Similar incidents have taken place before. According to the tale told by the prayer leader of the mosque at Seeta, the man had offered evening prayers and then spent the night there. Worshippers arriving for morning prayers, stated they found burnt copies of the Holy Quran, blamed the man for this, handed him over to the Rajo Dero police and lodged an FIR against him. As word of the incident spread, a mob of some 200 collected at the police station, overpowered the six or so policemen posted there, beat up the man and then burned him alive. The SSP of Dadu has said the 10 policemen posted at the station and some 24 villagers have been arrested.
But this will not bring that unknown man back to life. Nor will it prevent other incidents of a similar kind from occurring. It is not just one incident we need to deal with. We need to look at the manner in which our society has contorted, become warped and twisted and figure out how some semblance of normal behaviour can be restored, so that we can crawl back out from the medieval age and re-enter a period where civilised behaviour is practised. This will not be a simple task given how far we have allowed things to disintegrate. The blasphemy issue in particular has played havoc with too many lives. Somehow, things need to be restored and sanity regained but with each passing day, the task seems to become harder and harder to achieve.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 23rd, 2012.
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Z. Khan has spoken with clarity and directness which we must appreciate. I heartily agree with everything he has written. I agree with your editorial completely. In terms of analysis, please allow me to submit that Pakistan's society has allowed so much leeway to the so-called Imams at the weekly prayer gatherings that they have arrogated to themselves the exclusive right to interpret Islam, Quran, the Prophet, Hadith, and Shariat - which they do in obedience to the Sunni/Hanafi way of looking at things. There is no one in Pakistan to call the Imams to account. The Imams seem to be propagating for the most part aspects of the Quran in an overly intolerant way, which leaves no room for other ways of thinking or of looking at the Quran. The fact of the matter is that it should never have been possible for the leaders of Pakistan to deviate from the teachings of Qaid-e-Azam, who spoke so eloquently on 11 August 1947. Later leaders of Pakistan without exception have been small men who were unable to appreciate the Qaid-e-Azam's vision of a multi-religious, multi-cultural Pakistan. That was the cardinal error, which it will take a lot of effort now to rectify. The answer lies in a generation-long effort to impart modern education to youngsters away from the influence of the Imams in the hope that the youngsters shall grow up to be modern and scientific oriented individuals. V. C. Bhutani, Delhi, India, 23 Dec 2012, 2105 IST
A country for muslims was born out of this frenzy. No mistake about it. We record only its ebb and tide.
"We need to look at the manner in which our society has contorted, become warped and twisted and figure out how some semblance of normal behaviour can be restored, so that we can crawl back out from the medieval age and re-enter a period where civilised behaviour is practised." Very rightly pointed out. Restoration of normal societal behaviour is gigantic task specially in religiously infested society of Pakistan. Each pillar of society has to play its part. ET and couple other English dailies keep on raising these concerns but more powerful Urdu print and electronic media rarely takes it seriously. Even "Shiekul Islam" who posses very good oratory instead of reforming the mind set of masses of Pakistan taking up fiery issue of politics verses state. Weaknesses of others and fiery discussions on nominal issues are aired every day by the most popular electronic media. Never ever sufficient programs are made and aired for the reformation of societal behaviour. Islam is very rich in such teachings, practising of which can promptly change the behaviour of whole society. But who will interpret and do it effectively is million dollar question? Let me here point out the societal behaviour of Ahmadiyya Community members, whose majority all around the world stems from Pakistan, is considered to be the best and praise worthy. In depth analysis revealed it is due to the regular sermons on ethical topics by its supreme head and other scholars as well regular broadcasting of such programs on its TV MTA. Setting aside the theological differences why not to follow this role model of Ahmadiyya Community? The biggest problem is due to negative emotion of religious scholars, print and electronic media no one in Pakistan is ready to listen and follow such advice. One can only pray to Almighty to enable the concerned pillars of society to understand this pointed out shortcoming and to analyse the solutions offered to reform the societal behaviour of masses of Pakistan. .
I agree with your editorial 100%. However, it may be too little too late to improve. We have turned into a lynch mob looking for blood all the time. Women, children and minorities are the easy targets.
Religion of piece! Religious truly profess equality and so don't discriminate on the basis of age, sanity and gender.