Tinkering with minds

The question of whether we can succeed in altering the mindset that has resulted not only in suicide attacks but also far more insidious forms of violence, with unveiled women threatened with acid attacks and restaurants playing music attacked in Lahore, has become a key issue. Similar ‘morality’ squads have of course operated in the past in Karachi. Some say Lal Masjid, allowed to resume activities after the 2007 operation against it in Islamabad, is once again preaching militancy. As we have seen before, attacks such as these are not universally condemned and more and more people in our society are conforming to an increasingly orthodox view. General Zia’s years and the setting up of hundreds of seminaries by them of course played a part in this turnaround and the conversion of a relaxed, tolerant society to one steeped in hatred.

This of course is past history. We live today with its impact. The question is how things can be changed. It is obviously essential to tinker with minds if we are to re-introduce the humanity and tolerance that has vanished from society. How is this then to be achieved? Pessimists insist the hands of the clock cannot be turned back. But neither can we give up quite so easily. An effort must be made – or else, as a nation, and as a people, we are doomed. Education offers one means. We need to use it far more effectively. The amount allocated for this sector has stayed static at just over two percent of GDP for years. The same holds true in the 2010-11 budget. We must realize that school curriculums and the kind of education children receive are keys to changing patterns of thinking. These tools have been used in the past to put in place a culture of hatred. They must now be used to try and sweep it away.

Meanwhile, we should also take a deeper look at the madrassas and their curriculum. It is here that most are brainwashed. And in fact the curriculum of secular schools also needs to be reformed to remove hate literature.

Published in the Express Tribune, 11^th, 2010.