Page 10 - Pakistan Link - July 30, 2021

P10 – PAKISTAN LINK – JULY 30, 2021 OPINION

n By Dr Mahjabeen Islam Mindsets, Mercy and the Qatra Effect There is in fact a danger of the pendulum

Toledo, Ohio swinging the other way and the elite and cor-
e might be witnessing a tectonic rupt getting street justice. Imran Khan assidu-

shift in Pakistan’s socio-politics. ously avoided vengeance. And it is important to
WPrime Minister Imran Khan’s ad- maintain this. A mindset change has to happen,
dress to the nation was so ambitious that but it must be modulated to achieve results and
some think he has promised not revenge.
the nation the moon. I was very touched by his repeat explana-
In individual lives and tion of creating rahm or mercy in our hearts.
those of nations, idealism is a One really notices its absence in Pakistan. How
good thing, particularly when it do people live with themselves spending mil-
is backed up with a solid action lions of rupees on a wedding outfit and the

plan. In goal setting you shoot many wedding functions, when all around
for the stars and settle for an average or slightly them are starving children begging on the
above average result. Cynicism and supercil- streets? Mercy has been squashed out of our
ious criticism only perpetuate the status quo. hearts and we’re blind to the misery around
And if there is one nation on earth that cannot us. I was looking through clothes at a boutique
survive the status quo it is Pakistan. on M. M. Alam Road in Lahore in July 2013;
Imran Khan had an exhaustive list and most of the outfits were Rs 25,000 and above.

dealt with education to agriculture, corruption The power went out and the generator quickly

to climate change. His reading glasses are testi- hummed in. Under his breath the salesman said
mony to the fact that he had a thought-out plan that the power outage didn’t matter to him for
of action for each item. As an aside, I must say, his six children sweated in the day and studied
that his reading glasses have to go. During his by candlelight at night. I asked him how much
oath taking, it was hugely awkward to see him he made and he said Rs 25,000 a month. I left

flip out his sherwani and dig out his glasses. the store and cursed our nation’s inequity.
He needs a quick visit to an ophthalmologist Qatra qatra darya ban jaata hai - drops

who will fix him up with trifocals so when he demanded money for release of my mark sheet. chappal, Imran Khan gives many messages; he coalesce to form a river. The cost of the Bhasha

talks and then reads, he doesn’t have to go from But 2016 will go down in my family’s history is thumbing his nose at Western culture, show- Dam is estimated to be Rs 1,450 billion. The

handsome to grandma; he would just keep the as giving all of us PTSD, post-traumatic stress ing pride in our own and underscoring simplic- small Rs 10 SMS donation created by the Su-
trifocals on and rest his arm from the back and disorder. My mother, my daughter and I had ity. When there is no fear of retribution and the preme Court, and then larger donations from

forth, and sport a scholarly look all at the same traveled to Karachi so that Ammi could collect Whistleblower Law comes into effect, there will Pakistanis and Overseas Pakistanis, can be the
time. my late father’s pension. In current day Paki- be a nationwide movement to self-correct. Or drops that can easily coalesce to give us the

The changes that Imran Khan lists are only stan, your two options to get anything done are else get turned in. dam.

possible with a change of mindset. Seventy-one doling out money or applying influence. Those That Islam insists on honesty and prin- All of us, within and outside Pakistan

years of explosive population growth, an im- government servants know how to break you. I ciples becomes an empty lecture when leaders should do at least one thing to change things.

ploding economy topped with baffling corrup- chose influence application to greasing palms. drive away in bullet and bombproof Mercedes Plant a tree, clean your street, educate a child;

tion has served to fashion the Pakistani psyche. And my distress was worsened at the plight of and BMWs, not one but fifteen at a time, into the opportunities are limitless. Imran Khan has
Time was that the middle class, the classic the many desperate faces roaming those halls mansions with 500 servants and food to feed great minds in his cabinet and advisers. In fi ve
perpetuators of morality, maintained integrity that didn’t have the connections I did. a squadron. A three-bedroom home with two years if we achieve even half of his “lofty” goals,

and faced adversity with the rules they grew up The trend is set at the top. Everything, cars is a great start! Changing that mindset that we will easily see Naya Pakistan.
with. But who can live on love and fresh air? small or substantial, matters. To his credit Im- has been groomed and nurtured for decades is

Especially over the last thirty years or so, you ran Khan knows this. His ill-fitting sherwani the challenge. Except for the elite one senses a (Dr Mahjabeen Islam is an addiction and

see survival of the fittest on full display. caused a buzz on social media and it seems a national enough-is-enough frustration. How family medicine physician practicing in Tole-

My first brush with corruption was in 1982 regular tailor stitched it. Brave to wear a Pesha- and why is life so difficult at every step from the do, Ohio. - mahjabeen.islam@gmail.com. This

when the clerk in Dow Medical College’s office wari chappal at his inauguration. Wearing that time one gets up till the day is done? article was written in August 2018)

n By Fahd Husain The Curse of Irrelevance one in the National Assembly and the
Islamabad, Pakistan Senate, it seems, wants to delve into
this strategic matter because, well you
murder most foul may have know, strategic matters are better left
rattled Islamabad, but not to those who wield power over them.
A those who draw political Really?

nourishment from the capital’s res- The real answer may not pro-

ervoir of power. The vide much solace. There is a lack of
leaders would, it something that makes the political
seems, prefer to be leadership wary of wading into com-
led. plex matters. Lack of understanding?
The gruesome Of interest? Of relevance? Of relat-

murder of Noor Mu- ability? Or just a lack of collective ca-

kaddam, daughter of pacity and will? The end result is the
a respected former diplomat, alleged- shrinking of space — self-inflicted,

ly by Zahir Jaffer, scion of a business mind you — that politicians experi-
family, has sent shockwaves through ence, and then complain of. On the
the tight-knit Islamabad circle and contrary, the space that they willingly
triggered an outrage that has brought and happily occupy is the space that
social media discourse to a boiling we are witnessing in the election cam-
point. Everyone in this small town paign in Azad Kashmir. While the
seems to know the murderer and the into larger societal issues of rampant the chilling Islamabad murder has among the politicians — exceptions nation is grappling with the complex-
victim, or know of them, or know misogyny, women’s rights, toxic social illustrated is something deeply trou- notwithstanding — is emblematic of ities of strategic matters like Afghani-

someone who knows them, or can attitudes, systemic elite capture and bling: the irrelevance of politicians on the fear that drives these men and stan, and the ramifications of social,
relate to the families because of the the statutory existence of legal escape an issue that is driving national de- women into inaction; a fear of go- cultural and legal matters triggered
dynamics of social stratification em- hatches for criminals with money and bate since the last three days. ing against the accepted social grain; by the gruesome Islamabad murder,

bedded in the DNA of this town that power. All these discussion points — The problem is grimmer than it a fear of positioning against the flow the politicians are happy calling each

gyrates to the rhythm of power and pegged as they are today to the Islam- sounds. Some ministers and sundry of organic cultural biases; and a fear other traitors, sellouts and Modi’s
privilege. abad murder — loop into reforms of advisers have issued routine con- of swimming against a perceived tide pals. That is the comfort zone they

First there is the grisly murder various hues that governments are demnations and text-based lamenta- even if changing the direction of the thrive in — far, far away from issues
itself, as well as all the aspects of the quick to promise and slow to deliver. tions laced with ‘vows’ to bring the tide is one of their job descriptions that demand much more than well-
‘who, why, how’ investigations being Some are complex issues and divide culprits to justice, but these miss the as elected leaders of their communi- rehearsed and convenient attacks on
conducted by the Islamabad Police. society, like social and cultural atti- larger point ensconced within the de- ties. Fear, in essence, is a powerful de- rivals.
In fact, there isn’t much to investigate tudes towards gender disparity, while bate. Few among the politicians from motivator for those who believe their The cost attached to this shirk-

since Zahir Jaffer is the only suspect others are fairly straightforward in both sides of the aisle have bothered success lies in lazy public validation. ing of responsibility is measured in

in the murder and beheading of Noor concept but twisted in implementa- to wade into this raging discourse Nothing has illustrated this di- the currency of irrelevance. Such ir-
Mukaddam in his home and is now in tion, like the equal application of law with anything that can be construed lemma more than the news cycle of relevance translates into a mismatch
police custody. This leaves two angles to the weak and the strong. as meaningfully action-oriented. The the last few weeks. The curse of ir- between the burden of their mandate

of the horrific episode that are the What they have in common is domestic abuse bill? Silence. Need relevance has hoisted itself upon the and the weightlessness of their contri-
cause of much debate — and much that they represent a collective social for tighter application of law? Silence. political leadership without much bution. A system groaning under the

angst. First, why was a known violent and political failure of governance — How to change social attitudes to- resistance. The swiftly evolving situ- dead weight of hollow promises finds

and unhinged man not restrained not in the sense that sans this failure wards victims, and especially women? ation in Afghanistan is a reminder it painful to shoulder the load of a
through legal or other means from there would be no more murders — Silence. Need to end victim-blaming? yet again that when it comes to is- leadership that is unable or unwilling
preying on women; and second, will but that they form a void that can Silence. What reforms are needed to sues that are slightly complex, and to break out of its comfort zone.
he face the wrath of the law or escape easily be filled if the rulers exhibit the ensure people with resources cannot nuanced, and outside the realm of In the capital today, the leaders

the net because of the privilege he will and desire to do so using the pow- buy their way out of a crime while the partisan simplicity, the politicians are are indeed happier to be led than lead.
wields? ers of their offices and of their public poor cannot? Silence. found wanting. Parliament has yet to (The writer is Dawn’s resident

These two aspects are scaling up mandate. And yet, far from this, what This silence of the majority initiate a debate on Afghanistan. No editor in Islamabad. Dawn)
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