I feel sad that even when we are supposed to be watching a patriotic play we still cannot act in decent enough manner.
ISLAMABAD: An amazing play by Anwar Maqsood and directed by Dawar Mahmood is being staged at the Islamabad Club. It made me and many others cry. I wish I could express in words the deep sense of loss and sorrow one feels after watching the play. A greater sense of sorrow, remorse, shame and betrayal was, however, felt while we waited in a queue outside in the cold. We reached one hour before the play was supposed to begin. Only two people had reached before us. While we waited for the gates to open, at least a dozen true Pakistanis were ushered in by the guard and the authorities before us despite our feeble protests.
I feel sad that even when we are supposed to be watching a patriotic play we still cannot act in a decent enough manner and wait for our turn. The same people, when in any other country, will wait in lines happily but since they seem to own this country, they feel that they have the right to step on everyone just to mark their authority. What is even more tragic is the sense of despair on people’s faces. We are so used to this behaviour that it has silenced our society. We have given up. Now I cry because I remember the sad and hopeless eyes of so many good people who were standing there, silently, not even protesting, just waiting to be called in to see what Pakistan has become. Our lives are a living tragedy. We suffer everyday abuses at the hands of the ones for whom this country was made — the VIPs.
Dr Irfan Zafar
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2013.
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