Wash, rinse, spin and repeat

Watching the coverage of the responses to the Lahore bombing by various politicians and government agencies there seemed to be a queasily-familiar ring to it. It was like listening to echoes — so I went in search of the source. Writing as I do for a newspaper six days a week my output is considerable and not limited only to the weekly columns of which this is one. Much of what I write is forgotten in hours, days at most, the mind having moved on to the next deadline and the rolling set of targets that is the news curve.

So I dug back, starting with the Marriott bombing in September 2008. “Terrorism is a cancer in Pakistan and we are determined, God willing, we will rid the country of this cancer. I promise you that such actions by these cowards will not lower our resolve”. Thus spake then-President Zardari. Then fast forwards to the Army Public School massacre in Peshawar, 2014. “We will continue this war until even a single terrorist is not left on our soil” — Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif speaking on a hospital visit to survivors of the attack. Here he is again — “Terrorists should know that failure is their fate” — this after the bombing at Lahore on Sunday March 27, 2016.

On virtually every major terrorist incident since the Marriott bombing there is a set of almost identical statements from whoever was the leader of the government at the time. There is little variation, the same promises are made, the same vows to defeat this cancer/evil/monster are uttered and then the event horizon goes forwards 24 or 36 hours and lines get drawn under what was and the groundwork laid for what will be — which is essentially more of the same.

Columnists and commentators, myself included, go through the same wash, rinse, spin and repeat cycle. Our words bunged into the washing machine and given a shaking to come out squeaky-clean and hung up to dry on the line. Whatever we had written the last time the landscape was littered with unidentifiable bits of meat and body parts was, in essence, pretty much the same with adjustments for time, place and body count as what we had written last time. There are only so many ways to say ‘this must never happen again’ — and I along with every other scribbler ran out of original ways to say it years ago.

The point being ploddingly made here is that since the Marriott bombing there is much that is different — governments for one — but remarkably little that has changed. The differences never pool together, form the aggregate that is change, remaining instead as isolated puddles, close together perhaps but never coalescing to form the larger lake on which to launch the good ship ‘Change.’

The potential catalyst for this is the same as it always has been — civil society or what passes for it here. Sadly civil society never got its polio vaccination and gets pushed around by its carers in decrepit wheelchairs waving flags and tweeting away on Twitter and blathering on Facebook about how dreadful everything is and why doesn’t somebody do something? Well quite. But that is not the way, is it? Doing something different may actually lead to change might it not? And how keen really are we on change? Really really keen? Dear me no we can’t have that now can we. Definitely not.

So here’s what we’ll do… put up our tuppence-coloured banners and stand around for a while looking telegenic and interesting, bundle up a few soundbites for the press-monkeys, yell fit to bust about inequalities and then all toddle off home to ensure that our first cousins marry one-another and that there is a bun safely in the oven a month or two later. There… done and dusted. We did our bit didn’t we? Cue smug satisfaction and a pleasurable afternoon in front of the bigscreen watching the latest Bollywood flick to bolster our already well bolstered traditional values. Safe in the forever comfort zone and cuddled close to all those politicos we love to hate. Or love.

So there we are — wash, spin, rinse and repeat. Comfortingly familiar. Safe as houses. Tootle-pip!

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st,  2016.

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