Lest We Forget

That is what they want, for some silly cartoons to drown memories of our children, for everyone to forget everything

“Bara dushman bana phirta hai, jo bachon say larta hai.” These words get into one’s head and make the eyes well up each time one hears or recalls them. The enemy is not only callous and murderous; the enemy is a coward. He thrives on attacks on the vulnerable. He thrives in the shadows. How can one listen to these words and still be undecided about the nature of the challenge at hand or worse, how can one be on the other side? The other side is of those who murder our children.

Make no mistake about it, the Jamaat-e-Islami and its affiliates are with the enemy. Charlie Hebdo caricatures are offensive, in bad taste and judgment. However, do not believe that the protests outside consulates and attacks on journalists are driven by pure religious fervour. No, they are driven by cynical, dangerous and sometimes murderous politics. Post-Peshawar, there was a shift in the societal narrative; not a momentous one, yet a shift nonetheless. The space for the apologists narrowed just a little bit. It became slightly more difficult to say that “our estranged brothers are only reacting to drone strikes”, etc., at least not shamelessly. The protest outside of Lal Masjid was unthinkable before the Peshawar attack.

Along came Charlie Hebdo and again, murder in the name of faith. The project of peacefully demonstrating against religious fanaticism was undermined firstly and obviously by the murderers in Paris; secondly for our particular context, Charlie Hebdo, by printing yet another caricature, giving an opportunity to get riled up those who live and feed on these opportunities. Enough has been said about Charlie Hebdo, and how it is not the great exemplar of the values of free expression and tolerance. Equally evident is the horrific nature of the murders committed, ostensibly in the name of religion at the Charlie Hebdo office, and how those making excuses for the murderers are not the finest specimen of Islamic sensibilities either. Yet, in the sad place we live in, the conversation is between their far-right and ours.



The unrest in the streets in Pakistan is not about cartoons now; it wasn’t about cartoons a few years ago. It is about politics and demonstration of power; both physical street power and the power of narrative. The rallies lionising the murderer Mumtaz Qadri were not about elevated concepts of religiosity; it was about asserting power and naked intimidation. Some rank and file at these protests might believe that burning down consulates and fast food joints is their ticket to heaven. However, the organisers and planners are far more cunning and far more dangerous. Post-Peshawar there was just a glimmer of hope that street protests and vigils can be held by the ‘other’ side and can be held outside madrassas. The cartoon and the manufactured outrage are about making sure that does not happen.

The leaders of Pakistani religio-political parties were not this outraged at the cold-blooded executions of 140 children as they are about a bunch of silly and offensive cartoons. It seems wrong to emphasise this point too much. It is too obvious and too painful. Come to think of it, Mr Imran Khan and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan could hardly control themselves, almost teary-eyed, with shaking voices on the day that Mr Hakeemullah Mehsud died. The murder of 140 school kids could not elicit even a fraction of that reaction from the two gallant gentlemen. Both of them have never have bothered to clear their stances subsequently. Mr Imran Khan believed that the “Taliban did not want to impose Sharia at gun-point” and his Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak “did not know” of the TTP. Does Mr Khan now know that the Taliban are capable of using guns and the dancing chief minister, at least, aware of their existence? Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan believed them to be our brothers.

Will anybody apologise and merely say that they were wrong? No, they will not. The Jamaat-e-Islami and its lovely student wing, the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba, are hard at work to ensure that they never have to be sorry on this account.

The slogan of the protesters who stand today with our children is “Never Forget”; the slogan for many victims of many times and places. This phrase is what shakes the very spirit of religio-political parties and their ideological brothers; they desperately, desperately want us to forget. They are in the business of weekly outrage. A passage from Milan Kundera comes to mind: “The assassination of Allende quickly covered over the memory of the Russian invasion of Bohemia, the bloody massacre in Bangladesh caused Allende to be forgotten, the din of war in the Sinai desert drowned out the groans of Bangladesh, the massacres in Cambodia caused the Sinai to be forgotten, and so on, and on and on, until everyone has completely forgotten everything.” That is what they want, for some silly cartoons to drown the memories of our children, for everyone to forget everything, except for the outrage of the moment; and they want complete control over defining and choosing the outrage of the moment.

They are cowards too, the lot of them, the murderers and their apologists. The apologists, the Jamaat-e-Islami, Imran Khan, find it easier to rally around some imagined concept of a ‘distant’ West and superpowers than against the killers at home. Since the killers at home are visible, identifiable, heavily armed and willing to kill. It is easy to abuse those from the container, who have nothing but inanities in return to offer. Mr Khan would you climb atop the stage on January 18 and thunder, “Oye Fazlullah, hamaray bachon kay qatil”? No sir, you won’t, you don’t have it in you. You are in luck (unlike our children). Neither does the prime minister.

As parents pull children out of schools, the religious political class can only offer ‘jihad’ against cartoons. It is not about cartoons; it is about making us forget our children. They are also the ‘dushman’ in “Bara dushman bana phirta hai, jo bachon say larta hai”. They are also afraid of our kids; they also fight against them. Lest We Forget.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th, 2015.

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