The wretched of the Earth

Frantz Fanon in his The Wretched of the Earth once aptly noted: “As long as he imagined he could switch straight from colonised subject to sovereign citizen of an independent nation, as long as he believed in the mirage sustained by his unmediated physical strength, the colonised achieved no real progress along the road to knowledge... .” The leap which Fanon identifies is what Pakistanis have assumed that they have made. The midnight hour of August 14/15, 1947, was a significant moment in history, but in a way nothing changed much, or was going to change, for the common man. The common man in what became West Pakistan and after 1971 Pakistan, was still oppressed by the landlord, ill-treated by the upper castes or biradaris, and lacked the means and opportunity for economic progress. The common woman fared much worse, in a way, as incidence of rape, honour killings, etc. increased. Overall however, one thing did change gradually, but constantly — that of a deterioration of the law and order situation in the country. If there was one thing the British provided to their Indian subjects, it was the rule of law and protection. While even this system had its flaws, for its time, it provided people security, not an insubstantial benefit.

The recent incidents in Youhanabad clearly exhibit the extent to which our road to sovereign citizenship is still long and rocky. The suicide bombings on the two churches, followed by mob violence, were clear examples of the deep decay in our society. What was shocking in Youhanabad was not that there was a terrorist attack — they unfortunately happen too often now, or that there was mob violence after that — that also is not rare in Pakistan — or even that two people were burnt by the mob — Shehzad and six-months-pregnant Shama were burnt alive in Kot Radha Kishan in November 2014 — what was shocking was that Christians (as far as we know) burnt two people. For a long time, Christians in Pakistan have been the silent sufferers of violence against them. There are numerous occasions every day of a Christian being discriminated against, or being beaten up in a local scuffle, or accused of blasphemy; large-scale attacks on Christians have taken place in recent memory beginning from Shanti Nagar in 1997, Sangla Hill in 2005, and the more recent Gojra riots in 2009 and the Joseph Colony Lahore attacks in 2013. Such treatment of the Christians in Pakistan had created a defeatist, closed and scared community out of them, which only prayed rather than reacted after an attack. However, Youhanabad showed otherwise.

At a very crude level, the post-suicide bombing incidents in Youhanabad show that Christians are as prone to mob violence as Muslims. And this is something which should shock us. If a peaceful community, known for its health and educational initiatives, can react in such a violent manner then the decay in our society is deeper and more terminal than we thought. It exhibits the pent-up anger and frustration of a society which is turning against itself and is, in fact, imploding. The rioters in Youhanabad went on a rampage not because that was right in their opinion, but because they did not know how to channel their legitimate concerns and resentment. As history has shown, none of the perpetrators of attacks against Christians have ever been convicted in the country, and therefore, the Christians of Youhanabad had zero expectations from the government, or anyone else, at this time. The background of oppression against this community led to such a violent, unfortunate and condemnable reaction.

These incidents should make us realise the deep rot in our society. I hope I am wrong, but I think that before the terrorists have the best of us, we will destroy ourselves first. The societal fissures in our society — be they religious, ethnic, sectarian or gender related — are gnawing at the core of our societal framework and until they are addressed, tackling the terrorists will only deal with one aspect of our problems. The Muslim community already had its work cut out, but now Youhanabad has shown how the Christian community and its leaders must also wake up and smell the coffee. A long, deep and concerted effort would need to begin now if we are to bequeath anything to our future generations. This Satyagraha — struggle for the Truth as Gandhi put it — needs to begin with us; otherwise notional independence is useless.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21^st, 2015.

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