Be my ‘violent-tine’

Who would have figured Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed murderer of Salmaan Taseer, to be such a heart stealer? Yet the sight in front of Adiala Jail on February 14 bore testament to his romantic appeal. Several students bearing Valentine’s Day gifts stood there, waving messages of love for their sweetheart. Just when I thought that the behaviour of a certain segment of our population could not possibly get any worse, it sank even lower. It also clearly indicated a couple of points about our society.

Firstly, this incident illustrated the lack of healthy role models and heroes in our country. We have very few men and women whom our youth admire or seek to emulate. We have few in the fields of arts and entertainment who can attract crowds and steal the hearts of the young, as Qadri appears to have done. And our sports heroes have somehow deteriorated in stature and do not command the same level of passion as Imran Khan and Wasim Akram did in the past. Our society becoming more radicalised is partly a product of the misguided view that it is somehow un-Islamic for our young men and women to openly display affection and desire for public figures, and be entertained by movies, songs and even sports. The only figures to be emulated should be associated with religion. The murderous Mr Qadri appears to have met this criteria in a rather warped and nauseating way.

Of course our youth are much like that of any other country. Given a more open society, we would have popular singers, dancers and sportsmen admired as pin-ups and the recipients of professions of love on Valentine’s Day. And our society would be much better for it — it would allow our youth a healthy outlet, provide them with entertainment and make their lives more enjoyable. It would also mean that our students would be less likely to become radicalised and violent. We know what the Taliban did across the border, banning virtually every single form of entertainment. When Mullah Omar, the former leader of the Afghan Taliban, was asked what people should do to have fun, he suggested that they go look at flowers. Of course, by then, there were hardly any flowers left.

It also occurred to me that many consider normal public expressions of love between a couple to be wrong. So for a man to send his partner, or love interest, flowers on Valentine’s Day would be viewed as a strange, un-Islamic act, one that adopts western conventions. But many believe public expressions of love for Qadri should be encouraged.

We need a much more open society where our youth are allowed to freely and publicly display their emotions of love or admiration for heroes in all fields, or indeed for their own romantic interests. If we continue in this direction, posters of the likes of Qadri will adorn the rooms of our youth. And that would be truly un-Islamic.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2011.