Death by citizenship

Pakistani movie Waar is not one of my most favourite ones but in its teaser one line narrated by the actor Shaan has stuck with me. He says that Pakistanis are a people whose death is not mourned by anyone, not even by Pakistanis themselves. Back in 2013, when I first saw the teaser, it resonated with me because I was deeply upset watching the innocent Pakistani people dying in drone strikes ordered by Obama and further sickened by how the US media labeled them all terrorists including a 2 year old boy and an 81 year old grandmother.

Today, I remember Shaan's words but for a different reason. And this time around, it is more sickening and deeply saddening. The image of a man who was saying his prayers on top of a container was very strong and moving. Perhaps he was not supposed to be saying prayers there but perhaps he should not have been killed for it either. I am confident that Muslims inside India and Israel wouldn't be killed if they start praying in an area suddenly deemed inaccessible for citizens by unelected men.

Indian and American men have come to Pakistan with bad intentions for the land and for the people. Abhinandan was not here to protest against Pakistan's policies or governance problems. He was here to spill Pakistani blood. He was offered a fantastic cup of tea and then returned in an almost red carpet treatment. Kulbhushan was not praying but rather paying off people to break Pakistan into pieces. He was not executed on the spot like the praying Pakistani man on the container. Today, he is in the custody of an international court. Raymond Davis was not viewed by anyone to be offering prayers in Anarkali bazar of Lahore. He actually killed innocent Pakistani people. When he was arrested, no cops were seen trying to execute him or throw him off some container or a tall building. Actually, the state moved heaven and earth to let him go unpunished. I call it the magic of citizenship.

Pakistan has an epidemic. It is called citizenship. If you have a non-Pakistani citizenship and you decide to harm Pakistan and execute that plan, you are rewarded with no jail time and safe return to where you came from. If you, however, have Pakistani citizenship and you decide to exercise that citizenship and the rights that come with it on paper, you will be on the receiving end of the most lethal wrath of the state. Maybe if we play the optimism game, we can argue that Pakistan is the most immigrant friendly country. But those immigrants better stay immigrants and never dare apply for citizenship here.

Pakistan was created because Jinnah had realised that Muslims of this region wouldn't be able to peacefully practise their faith without being troubled. Read that last sentence again and let that sink in. A man was killed because he was offering prayers. A man was killed because he was exercising his citizenship.

It is as though Pakistanis are actually fighting against their citizenship. And this is a trial by battle. Either Pakistanis would have to escape Pakistan, seek better employment and income opportunities abroad, and gain better citizenship in order for them and their families to survive or else if they stick with this citizenship and decide to exercise it and all the rights that come with it then they will face defeat and eventually death. Pakistanis and their citizenship are mutually exclusive. Either they abandon it for better citizenship elsewhere or else they live like sheep and disown all the rights that come with it. Those are the only two ways to stay alive and preserve sanity.

People are making noise over social media on who is to be blamed for the killing. I blame the citizenship of the dead man. Do not look elsewhere. We should know better. We are children of a lesser God.