Sitting at my desk in Bahawalpur on another quiet Sunday, our daughter playing with the cats, wife exchanging family gossip with visiting relatives, something dark and nasty reached out to us again. One of my brother-in-laws’ daughters is to marry in January. Six members of the family she is to marry into died in the twin suicide blasts at a church in Peshawar and the mighty engines of ‘Denialistan’ hummed into life.
Chief Artificer of denial is a cricketer-turned-politician who is busy, along with his fellows, turning the clock back in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) education system while at the same time, demonstrating both the narrowness of his vision and the shallowness of his intellect.
Unfortunately for Pakistan and despite not sweeping to power in a tsunami of egotism, this arriviste commands a significant portion of the national narrative.
Naive almost to a fault, Imran Khan has linked the bombing in Peshawar to a half-baked conspiracy theory and strikes by American drones in the tribal areas. Neither have the remotest connection to this atrocity — which was about rabid intolerance, not drones or dark plans hatched in musty corners.
It is that same intolerance that sees jihad making a comeback in school books across K-P and books withdrawn from a Punjab school’s curriculum that contained text to be used in the teaching of comparative religion. It is the same intolerance that saw wanton destruction in Shanti Nagar, in 1999, or the Gojra riots, in 2007, that killed eight Christians and the same intolerance that drove out the family of Rimsha Masih on a trumped-up charge of blasphemy. The same intolerance that sees Hindus fleeing their homes in Balochistan.
None of these incidents — and many more like them — are the consequence of plots hatched by foreign powers, the CIA, Mossad, MI5 or alien life-forms from a galaxy deep in the constellation of Orion.
They are the consequence of nurturing a national mindset that harbours a fear of and a prejudice against anything which is ‘other’. That mindset is sown from the earliest age in schools everywhere and bolstered by hysterical sermons delivered by foaming-at-the-mouth clerics, assorted ‘anchors’ of TV programmes that are an ethical desert and consolidated by terrorists who know they can count on the tacit support of our elected representatives.
That dark thing that reached out and touched me and my family comes from within, not without, and for the first time in 20 years of living in Pakistan (the 20th anniversary of my coming here is not until October, but I trust I will be forgiven that minor ‘stretch’) there is a sense that old age and infirmity are unlikely to be the cause of my death.
There is now an inevitability about the advancing extremism which is mother and father to the terrorists that killed 83 men, women and children in a Peshawar church. Those that would rail against the tide are a fading voice, muttering in their corner of Facebook or Twitter, never able to muster more than a few hundred on the street in protest against whatever the atrocity may be and without political power or a champion.
My wife recently moved house in Islamabad, taking a flat in a quiet residential street. The neighbours have complained to the landlord about him ‘renting to Christians’ and she is considering moving again. Suddenly, in the pressing of a brace of detonators, it has got very personal. We, my family and those around me, are the ‘other’ and one of these days, they may come for us as well.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (25)
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These mindless killings are definitely condemnable may they be killings of shias, by sunnis or vice versa, kashmiris by indians, Palestinians by israel, or Pakistanis by ttp. There should be no doubt about it. But I, you or Khan may have different solutions to the problem. Till now we have failed miserably in fighting them. Lets give Khan a chance to solve this problem for us. Vast majority has given him the mandate for taking bold steps.
@Agnostic: "Why has violence not decreased". Because the peace talks have not started yet, and the US/Pakistan Government combo do not want them to. They have had 13 years to get the combatants around a conference table so they cannot be trying too hard. The only person trying is IK, and he is virtually a lone voice in the wilderness having to tolerate put-downs from vested interests or low functioning people.
Heart breaking. How does one explain that the level of violence has not decreased despite the governments in Islamabad and Peshawar swearing by talks with the militants?
Chris, you are not the other. You are one of us, a fellow Pakistani. It is they 'the murderers' who are the other. My thoughts and prayers with your family.
Your concerns for yourself are valid but calling Imran lacking vision or intellect is venomous and without reason. It is Imran's greatness that has admirers all over the world and what intellect or vision have I and you shown in our long lives? it's a disagreement - a differing perspective. the liberal press in Pakistan spares no time in dismissing his larger statements strongly condemning this atrocity and airing a headline half sentence from his explanation of the possible root cause.
I for one hope that my friend Chris who wrote this piece can live his life in peace.
Religion SHOULD not matter.. where ever you live. Aren't all religions boasting that they want peace?? If so.. where is it??
Not in Paksitan, Nairoby, soamlia... or.. you fill in the blanks....
It is a fact, the displayed show of concern for Christians and minorities is plain window dressing in most cases. They very people who harp on this theme of equality and dignity for all humans, regardless of religion, caste and ethnicity, are themselves the biggest transgressors in their private lives.
There is less i would disagree with in this article. In the ocean of opinions it doesn't even matter probably. But what i see in this article is cry for unwanted sympathy from respected Mr. Cork. Now, whoever shots him down will be redirected to Taliban even if its our intelligence or the government itself. Imran Khan is not a cause for all his and his vision can be as wrong as yours, but that doesn't make him shallow. It's just another approach to the solution.
@Chris Cork: The piece you've written is a story similar to many Pakistanis of different social classes. It seems like no one is interested leave a comment is because they are in a state of denial. Well this sort of discrimination doesn't happen in the streets or community, it happens even in the workplace.
My cousin is being denied a job wherever he goes because his surname is 'Calvin'. he didn't get selected in a cricket team due to the same reason.
I too came across such discrimination at the workplace from a WOMAN and had to change departments. I thought men will do such things, but women.
@aqib: Yes for good governance and NO to meddling in education system/syllabus.
@aaleen: Shall we go ask every murderer what provoked him and commute his sentence ? If A kills B, C can kill D ---- fine logic, where do they teach it ?
i don't agree with IK's policies but this article is a poor attempt at conflating various issues together - yes there IS a link between drones and this attack: as claimed by the perpetrators themselves, So we cannot say that this is just a product of rabid intolerance. Yes, there are many faults within pakistani society but that doesn't exonerate the Americans from bombing our countrymen and the retaliation it generates, which is again, bombing our countrymen!
Chris, If you are still in Bhawalpur, be safe. We need voices like yours for long time to come. ..Peaceful well wisher
Dear Chris
I feel so saddened by this mindless violence on one of the most deprived section of Pakistani society. I pray that Allah bless the departed souls and give them a place with his near and dear ones. Unfortunately you are not the 'only' other. Anyone who does not conform to a certain ideology and mindset is an other and hence fair game. The seeds of intolerance sown with the first Afghan war back in 1977 have now grown. The state policy to use violence and terror as part of foreign policy has now come back to bite us. The really sad part is that there is a sheer unwillingness to grasp the gravity of the situation by the political elite. Taliban blew up the major general to jolt army out of 'our guys syndrome'. May be they need to blow up a couple of politicians for them to realize what we are dealing with.
Best wishes.
We need a Mustepha Kemal Ataturk in Pakistan. Imran khan does not have a shallow intellect. He fully understands what he is doing and he is doing it on purpose. We should not give him any benefit of doubt based on his diminished mental capacity. He is not an apologist or a conspiracy theorist, in fact he is an ally of the terrorists and should bear full responsibilty of his acts.
May God protect you and your family
As some one who admires Chris Cork' columns, which I have read in the News as well as in Tribune, I would be very sad if some one comes to Chris's home on the pretext that he is 'the other.' No, Chris is now a Pakistani and it should be the bounden duty of people of Bahawalpur as well as the Punjab and the Central government to protect people like Chris and Jasmine to live peacefully in Pakistan until old age and infirmity overtakes them, as it would to all of us mortals.Chris's faith belongs to him 'and there is no compulsion in matter of faith.'
Your article is brilliant. It gives me goosebumps, yes they just might come for you and your family, and sooner than later - but those of us who assume in their delusional denial 'they won't ever come for us' have also run out of time.
It is a pity that it took 20 years for u to realize that u are part of the "other". Better late than never. Indians know this all along.
A good read. A honest account of the treatment that the 'other' (minorities) has to endure in Pakistan without the politically correct hogwash and the platitudes of religion. Pakistan is in dire need of a Reformation, because as the author rightfully points out, a toxic atmosphere has been created in the country, which is fostered early on during childhood, reinforced in the media and the mosque later on. It is a recipe for disaster and the bombings in Peshawar were a natural outcome. Whoever denies this, is living in a fool's paradise.
good luck
We seem to forget that Imran Khan's party have the majority in a democratically elected provincial parliament, and they reserve the right (given to them in the elections, because of their stated policies), to direct the way of the government.
"one of these days, they may come for us as well" and then it will be the turn for those that sat quietly observing the happenings.
The "shallowness of his intellect" is the perfect match for his deep hypocrisy.