The problem with us as a nation is that we have stopped behaving as human beings.
LAHORE: Over 40 Pakistanis died in a coal mine accident in Balochistan recently. Compare this to the response and involvement of the president of Chile and his whole government including the first lady, when miners were stranded in a copper mine explosion in their country. Although we call ourselves Muslims, who believe in the Holy Quran, which stresses upon the value of human life, what we witness daily in Pakistan is in sharp contrast to our professed beliefs.
The problem with us as a nation is that we have stopped behaving as human beings. And we are also hypocrites, because while we talk much about our faith and beliefs, neither is least reflected in our actions. Every day several Pakistanis are being killed in target killings in Karachi, but the government chooses to look the other way, presumably for the sake of political exigencies.
In Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa the shrines of respected saints and religious scholars like Hazrat Data Ganj Baksh, Abdullah Shah Ghazi and Hazrat Baba have not been spared. Thousands of our citizens who repatriate billions of dollars annually are stranded in Bahrain, where they are being selectively harassed because of alleged wrongs committed by some other Pakistanis employed in their security apparatus. Our government and its embassy in Bahrain have failed to counter this propaganda, which has caused loss of innocent lives.
The situation is not much different inside Pakistan, with lives and blood lost on a daily basis, and all because the state has failed or is unable to establish its writ.
This has been happening even under military rule, while our intelligence and security agencies, who consume a large chunk of our budget, have failed to make any significant arrests. Thousands of our citizens have been butchered in what are termed as collateral damage by drone attacks, which originate from airfields within our country. The failure of a state to protect the lives and properties of its citizens is an unpardonable act. There is no national interest more supreme than the security of life of its innocent law abiding citizens.
Malik Tariq Ali
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2011.
