Let us begin this note on love

It seems year after year, we measure our country’s progress in how many innocent lives we’ve managed not to lose

Abhi garaani-e-shab mein kami nahin aayi

Najaat-e-deedaa-o-dil ki ghadi nahin aayi

Chale chalo ki woh manzil abhi nahin aayi

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Another year has passed and 2018 beckons with many things to reflect upon. What remains as was before is the inequality and disparity, perhaps even widening. What has changed, however, is the new light in which extremism has taken a firm grip, not to be removed as easily as a National Action Plan and a few secular voices in a sea of varying but consistent faith-laden stalwarts. The year 2016 saw fewer terrorist attacks in comparison but 2017 was a fatal year. It seems year after year, we measure our country’s progress in terms of how many innocent lives we’ve managed not to lose.

Extremism, essentially, rests on unwavering faith and pure hate. Hate, in Pakistan, has taken good advantage of poverty to ensure its reach stems to the very root of every household, neighbourhood and community — thou shall suspect your neighbour and your friend for what lies in their heart may be different from what lies in yours and surely it is inferior. Hate, it seems, has also taken advantage of political instability and elected leaders who have failed miserably and consistently to deliver.

However, what is interesting is that embellished, consistent and unchecked hate has not just followed us into the New Year, it has led us there. The planted Faizabad siege in the capital city for 20 days was based purely on hate, used by forces that be, as a tool to further weaken weak institutions, cause political disruptions and get the message across that democracy in Pakistan is fragile and one uninterrupted general election is no real feat.

Without further analysing Faizabad and all that it has undone, I want to focus on why it is so easy to use extremist elements to weaken institutions and gain points. Groomed and ready to take whatever role is necessary, faith-based elements have been used in Pakistan since its inception against external forces. But this tool is now being used within our borders as well. Faizabad is only the beginning. Why? Firstly, because these elements are always ready and groomed from the beginning to take up any fight. Once trained and ideology fuelled, there is really no controlling them. Secondly, and worryingly, they have become acceptable to us all because hate, divisive instruction and extremist views are now more palatable. The general public has also been groomed over time to accept hate-filled views without challenging them, perhaps some of us even see reason amongst the obvious irrationality. Thirdly, we now have a new fear. In addition to fearing the state and the establishment, we now have another element to fear — the total mainstreaming of extreme and dangerous voices in entrenched orthodoxy. And our silence (because of our fear) allows the extremists flames to keep burning. This is now beyond just the mosque one can avoid if one wishes to or the Friday sermons that one can tune out of. It is also not just a tool restricted to the ultimate question of our national sovereignty. It is in everyday life — in our living rooms through constant televised breaking news and in our everyday and unavoidable public spaces, challenging directly and indirectly democratic institutions, this time, however, under the new guise of religion. The Faizabad incident leading us into the New Year is letting us know, in unequivocal terms, that the goal posts lay not where we thought they did — they lay elsewhere and we must not forget it.

How we have come this far — to allow a certain religious narrative to be so acceptable as to take over the diverse and rich narratives of a country whose fault line lies in the saints of Sehwan and the words of Bulleh Shah — is perhaps beyond my ambit of study. What Faizabad had brought into focus is that time and space are receding and we seem not committed to stopping it. With such a large youth surge in an ever-growing population, Pakistan stands at a tryst in time where there should be no other option but to work towards the de-escalation of hate and everything that comes with it. It also means having an astute recognition of our constitutional institutions and the imperative understanding that the goalposts cannot, should not, shift beyond real and accountable democracy and the norms it holds. This is not possible, however, without a massive state-led narrative shift where it is considered unthinkable by institutions and individuals alike to target vulnerable minorities and the peaceful majority, and use extremist propaganda to push forward an unconstitutional agenda. A long-term and sustainable narrative shift for a functioning society will need the imperative ingredients of strong civil society and unhindered critical thinking.

But beyond political elites and their untouchable walls, let us, ordinary people, reflect on where we are being led and how we are getting there. Let us resolve to begin 2018 on a note of love, for surely that is where it all starts. So that the next time our neighbour is targeted for their religious belief and used as a political propaganda we think it is unjust enough to question it, in order to protect our human conscious and in turn our democratic values. As Faiz eloquently penned in 1947, Woh intezaar tha jiss kaa, yeh woh sahar tau nahin (this is not the dawn we so longed for, for so long). Real freedom for this country will come when we free ourselves of hate.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2018.

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