Fear of failure

One reason why we see no excellence in politics, governance, media, other spheres of life, these days, is fear

We haven’t got any good news in a very long time. This season of blues has been too long. Giants, as they seemed, once scratched, have come out as pygmies. We finally got our well-deserved break recently, when the youngest Nobel Prize recipient turned out to be 17-year-old Malala Yousufzai of the Swat Valley.

One of the reasons why we see no excellence in the sphere of politics, governance, media and other spheres of life in Pakistan, these days, is fear. Fear of failure. It is so overpowering that many who really want to change and live, instead choose to just exist.



Our politicians have carved this into their DNA that they can’t reach the zenith of power till they promote a culture of patronage and invest in their personal riches. Even those who embark on the path of change, after a while, abandon it and fill their cupboards with the relics of the old system and old ways.

They believe that if they tried to do anything different and substantial for the people of this country, they will fail. They are all certain of the invincibility of the system of oppression.

Our bureaucrats butter the greedy rulers and become partners in the loot of this country because they believe the system will be there forever. Most don’t defy in the public interest because they believe in the power of the vested interests. The hold of looters in the political, economic, cultural and media domains is almost complete.

Our writers wear jaundiced goggles and don’t call a spade a spade because of their need to survive. The fear of ignominy debilitates their imagination and paralyses their courage. The fear of the system of oppression deprives them of the light they can provide to our people in the darkness.

As a people, we failed the Sharansky town square test a long time ago. People, due to fear, don’t say what they mean and don’t mean what they say. People are afraid of speaking out about what they truly believe due to the tyranny of the few. Now, even in social settings, people are scared of expressing their true feelings, emotions and ideas for fear of reprisal.

If you talk to common Pakistanis today, most will oppose the tyrannical brand of faith advocated by the Taliban. If you talk to them, they will agree that faith is an issue between the person and his creator and can’t be decided by any social group, seminary, mullah or the state. But how many will volunteer to say that publicly? Not many. Why? Because they are afraid of the power of the few violent thugs armed to the teeth by the state institutions and political groups.

Malala Yousufzai, the teenage girl of Swat, challenged the system of fear and tyranny when headless bodies were being dumped in the “Bloody Square” of her town. She thought that education was her right and that of other girls and she needed to raise her voice for all of them. She did not fear what will happen to her and her family; it was her conviction and belief in her ideals that proved to be stronger than the sword and the bullet of the killers. Believing in herself gave her the power to continue her pursuit of education despite the obvious danger.

Today, when we see the season of blues enveloping all domains of our life, the only hope is the Malala moment. As Franklin D Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified, terror which paralyses needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2014.

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