Have Pakistanis become cold-hearted people?

Have Pakistanis become cold-hearted people, who just care about themselves and their kind, and are impervious to the suffering of other humans?

A cold, calculated attack and murder of thousands of innocent civilians and destruction of their cities is being witnessed by the world. The desperation to flee and deaths through dehydration, hypothermia, and inability to receive timely medical care are playing out in front of our eyes. Yet, the plight of Ukrainians does not feature in our conversations.

When I mentioned the devastating Ukrainian war to an acquaintance, I got a chuckle and the response: “It’s Christians killing Christians.” This immediately reminded me of the popular Turkish TV series, Ertugral, in which wars between Christian armies were appreciated because they reduced the total number of Christian soldiers. Have we actually transported ourselves to medieval times? Is feeling any pain for humanity beyond us?

Another response is that “since the West is not sympathetic to the suffering of Muslims in Kashmir and Palestine, why should we care about suffering in Europe?” Is the feeling of empathy tribal? How can we not feel pain when we see another human being in pain? Are feelings based on political, ethnic and religious considerations, and will only be felt for persons belonging to the ‘right’ ethnicity and religion? What kind of robotic monsters have we become?

How and why are we so parochial? Over the years, we have been praying only for Muslims, and focusing on Muslim issues. But our God oversees the Universe. Has this tribalisation of sympathy, caring and prayers so brainwashed us that now we feel nothing for non-Muslims?

We have historic ties with the Europeans. We share cultural roots and we deal with them constantly for reasons of trade, commerce, investment and tourism. Some countries such as Germany have gone out of their way to help war refugees from Muslim countries, such as Syria. Do we remember how the cities of Europe protested against the Iraq war? They demonstrated more solidarity with the Iraqi people than we did. The European governments may have supported the war, but the European people felt the pain of the Iraqis. Why don’t we feel the pain of the Ukrainian people?

We share so much with the Ukrainians as fellow human beings. They are striving to provide for their families and protect them, just as we protect ours. Within days, their lives have changed from ordinary lives to catastrophic. Recently, we have encountered an unexpected foe that has transformed our lives and caused thousands of deaths: corona. We may face other sudden challenges emanating from climate change or even regional conflict. How can we be so comfortable in our lives that our hearts don’t go out to a people in the midst of horrific suffering?

This lack of caring for the suffering of the people of Ukraine, and the continued support of Russia for geopolitical and economic reasons cannot be justified as a reply to the behaviour of the West. It is true that the West has chosen to ignore persecution, violence and killing for geopolitical reasons, such as turning a blind eye to the persecution of the Kashmiri people by the Indian government for geostrategic and economic reasons, but are we going to base our values on the ethics of others? What about our Islamic teachings of fighting persecution and cruelty, ideally through action, if not then through vocal protest, and if not then through condemnation in the heart? In the case of Ukraine, amongst the Pakistanis, none of the three responses seem present.

This hard-heartedness will come back to haunt us. We often complain about how isolated Pakistan is from the world. In catastrophic situations, the world watches and remembers the response of countries. The world will remember how the cities of Pakistan did not rise up in protest in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, except for the lone lawyers’ anti-war protest in Lahore. It will remember the paucity of humanitarian efforts. And in the time of our need in the future, the world may not spring to action with the same warm-heartedness as it has done so in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2022.

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