This enmasse culture of incalculable hatred is whipped up and otherwise promoted by those in line to benefit from the frenzy thus generated, our very own federal interior minister, Rehman Malik, being a prime example of the latter. Crowd mentality, however, has a habit of disintegrating when an individual member of the public at large is put on the spot and asked to explain, in detail, exactly why it is that they are so vehemently against a person or people of a different tribe, creed, country or whatever, as the majority of them simply cannot justify what they have, in essence, been ‘conditioned’ to think.
Take the ‘gun and drug culture’ for example: firearms have always been readily available in Pakistan as we manufacture our own and import them too; heroin was, until very recently, a major crop in our tribal areas where even now it continues to be cultivated on a small scale and, to take this one step further, most of upper Punjab, including Islamabad, is home to billions upon billions of marijuana plants that grow wild even in front of the Supreme Court and Government House and which appear to be especially partial to flourishing around police stations. Any rational minded person should thus be aware that importing any of the aforementioned items from Afghanistan is not an actual requirement and that the ‘trade’ currently in existence is only made possible by Pakistanis buying the stuff — so why blame the people of Afghanistan for something we have brought upon ourselves?
Likewise with the ultra-mysterious ‘foreign hands’ Mr Malik so loves to blame for blatant governmental incompetence and the murderous political infighting which is so obviously indigenous that even he must surely realise it has not been instigated by ‘out of state actors’ and yet his finger, like a magnet to magnetic north, points towards India all the time and we, the nation, are supposed to follow suit and spew forth yet more ridiculous accusations to fuel a fire we didn’t light and, on the whole, don’t want to as it would be we, the nation, not our supposed rulers, who would die to foot the bill.
Intentionally fomenting racism and hatred to be used, when fully primed, as a weapon of mass destruction against innocent people is a crime against humanity as a whole, one which completely fails to take into account that those going about their daily business of struggling to survive in an increasingly divisive world just happen to be homosapiens too.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2011.
COMMENTS (7)
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Marijuana / poppy seeds / heroin plants, whatever it is. In the whole world, does only pakistan has the right weather / soil to grow these plants ? Certainly not. Apart from few in south america & afghan, other responsible countries could have the weather/soil; but they strictly ban these crops under their local govt's law & order policy. And making heroin / cocain is not a rocket science. Any small time farmer can produce it. It does not require CIA to show knowhow. I may not have heard Kalashinkov 10 years ago. But being part of the modern world, i knew it. Modern world offers good as well as bad things. But its me who decides which way to go for. I am sure even Bhutanese also heard of Kalashinkov. Never heard of any problem in their society. The difference is society, govt policies and law enforcing institutes.
@shahida kazi:
Marijuana is most definitely a crop. It has nothing to do with opium, which is derived from poppy seeds. The use of opium as a recreational drug goes back in time way before the creation of the CIA... modern methods of creating heroin may indeed have been imported from overseas but the most likely sources are drug cartels looking to make financial gain.
I would like to tell the writer that heroin is not a crop that is grown.I wonder how she saw it growing all over Pakistan,And neither is marijuana.These are substaances which are manufactured by using opium ,a plant which is mainly used for medicines.The manufacture of heroin was taught by American CIA agents to the Afghan refugees in order to earn money for thyeir guerrilla activities,and laboratories were set up all over the border areas.This is all a matter of record.And Kalashinkov is a word which was never there in iour vocabulary until the Afghan fighters starterd snatching these weapons from the russians and selling them to us..I think the writer needs to enrol in a course of contemporary history before she starts spouting out half baked opinions as facts..
I am amazed by your research. What else you do for living? Go back to school,you have a long way to go. Editors! Please find the columnists who can put the facts together. Readers need substance.
Now the difference is India has company. Not only India, but the US, Afghanistan, UK, Iran and even China blame Pakistan for stuff happening in their Country.
Its a nice attempt to soothe egos by pointing out the pointing done by India. But, you overlook one fact- Pakistan is actually called the epicenter of Terror. Heck, even Countries thousands of miles away point at Pakistan, now. India is right next door, unfortunately.
@Jan Xeb: You have conveniently overlooked the part of the article that points out the aspect of drugs not being a problem when there are no buyers or desire for it. Just because you haven't heard of it before then, it just means you weren't involved with those who have. For you to be able to say that's the starting point requires you to know the details of all of the underground action and be well informed with rare inside information of the lives of those involved. If that's the case, where have you been? Many people have been seeking the information and insight you have into society's shadows. You can save a lot of people by sharing that information. I await your revelations on the edge of my seat. You're apparently the most viable option for being the savior people keep crying for.
Just few fact to share .,.,..,. Afghanistan has been the greatest illicit opium producer in the entire world. which rout do u think Afghanistan can export such huge quantity of Drug ? Belonging to the areas border to Afghanistan ... Nether me Nor My elders ever heard of Heroin before afghan war .,.,.,.,., Opium production in Pakistan started recently & abandoned soon. Same case is with Kalashnikov culture & Bomb blasts !!!
Pakistan fought 3 wars & still in the state of war with India .,., How can some one root out the involvement of foreign element Such as India ?
No doubt Rehman malik's incapability is proved beyond doubt .,.,, but still how can we deny facts so evident ? Please excuse my English :)