The killing of outrage

Sad as it is we announce the death of outrage in Pakistan. Dictionaries define the word as ‘an extremely strong reaction of anger, shock or indignation’. Beyond the largely routine exercise of protestations against the abduction of a group of men who expressed dissent at the actions of the State on social media, any outrage at their vanishing is largely invisible and inaudible. Whatever outrage there was on Twitter or Facebook was as effective as throwing rolled-up face-wipes at a stone wall in an effort to breach it — that wall being made up of assorted organs of the state, both visible and invisible. Outrage, as in large sections of the population expressing shock, anger and indignation has been killed by fear — the fear of what might happen to them if that shock outrage and indignation ever surfaced publicly.



Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Thursday said that he had taken notice of reports in both the mainstream and the social media that there were ‘plans’ to charge the abducted bloggers with blasphemy. There are no such plans said he, and called the reports ‘ridiculous’. A protest by people supporting the abducted men was pelted with stones by those who were promoting the idea of a blasphemy prosecution. It is reported that the police merely looked on — which very much exemplifies the State response. It is a bystander, all innocence, and yes the state is doing all it can to find and release the men, says the Interior Minister.

The crocodile tears of a senior member of the government should fool nobody — but they will fool and satisfy many, particularly those that seek to drag the state ever further to the right and closer to a poisonous intolerance in thought, word and deed. They are powerful and have fellow-travelers deep within State apparatus. Much of what emanates from the government about the protection of minorities and the right to protest and a host of other issues relating to the freedom of the individual are mere window dressing, and mostly designed for foreign consumption. We remain truly and vehemently outraged — a small voice amid the braying rabble.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2017.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.