While the honorable gentlemen from the Punjab tussle over how to contain the media furor that has been created by their unanimous resolution passing, other more important yet less noticed happenings continue to occur across the country with impunity. A maid is found dead in the owners’ house in Lahore; a couple is stoned to death for “allegedly” having illicit relations; a person is booked under the blasphemy laws for desecrating the Holy Quran; a jirga condemns two minor girls to eternal hell by giving them as an exchange price for settling a dispute.
How long can we go on surviving like this? While the media and the politicians battle it out, the common man is once again threatened by the devils of daily life. While the common man is finding it increasingly hard to protect his self interests, his dignity and his respect, the lawless vultures swarm overhead looking for any weak sign on the part of the commoners to swoop down and prey upon the innocent, the weak and those too feeble to defend themselves. Such is the perverted form of justice prevalent in this country de magnifico.
I overheard the maid who comes to work in our house tell my mother that her neighbor who has a single bulb in her shack was billed Rs. 16000. This is just one example, but it is enough to drive home the fact that rampant and increased corruption is getting out of control. There is a famous Urdu saying: Paisa phenk, tamasha dekh (Throw money, and watch the show). Well guess what? That statement just sprang to life. Everything, and I mean everything, can be solved with a steady supply of moola. One can get a decent job, car, more moola, electricity, loans and what not if you’ve got enough money to grease the palms of those who matter.
And then there is the question of the disease called denial which seems to be plaguing our politicians really bad. How often will they stand up and deny that they are the devil in human’s garb? The atrocities that have been continuously perpetrated with the ideology of “yes we can!” because they are the bosses of the bosses are outrageous. What right does the PPP have of claiming that they have a democratic government, and a democratic party? Just listen to this conference that was conducted in the UK and you will know that Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is unfit to even be called a citizen of this country, let alone the leader of a fake democratic party:
They'll ask you to jump down the Empire State Building and you will gladly do it wouldn't you Bilawal Zardari? But let me not judge. The chap's words speak for him. But that’s not all. You see all our current political structure is mired and infused with hereditary politics. How then can one expect anything from the rulers? It is beyond my scope of reasoning. I am ashamed at times by what I see on national television. Images too unworthy of being shown to the local population are streamed to worldwide audiences. What image of us is being portrayed by the geniuses sitting in the House of Supreme Authority? I say it again and again and I never tire of saying it, but we need change. Change in the form of educating ourselves because 63 years are enough to convince me that the rulers will never care for educating the masses. The level of awareness now needs to be matched by the level of education necessary to reach substantial conclusions. We need change to bring about justice, peace, and harmony in this country. We need education to stop blatant murders of poor innocent women crushed by poverty and forced by conditions into a nightmare. We need education to enable the masses to bring to justice those who are responsible for deciding the fates of those minors who will always live in a mental state of agony. We will be crushed, again and again until we bleed to death and we have to educate ourselves to stop that from happening.
The state of affairs prevalent is indeed very sorry. If only I could get up one day and change everything. Alas, my only chance is that my ranting will change the way of someone somewhere and he or she will be inspired to take some steps; any step, because even if we ALL can do a little, together we can do a LOT. Let us hope and pray that tomorrow shines better than today on this country.
Amen.
