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It seems as though the country has been neatly fractured into two visible sides: the conservatives and the liberals. Every incident in the recent past, be it the assassination of Governor Salman Taseer or the Veena Malik debacle, reminds us again and again, that the valuable middle-ground and the people who actually make some sense instead of senseless rants on TV shows and in mosques, are silent. Most of them are sitting on the fence watching how this will play out. By “this,” I mean the future of this nation.
Meanwhile the ranting continues, everyone talks about the mullahs and how they are constantly giving edicts and fatwas against any kind of freedom. However, no one is questioning the liberals about what their actual agenda is. Fine, so they want anyone who can hold a mike and speak, become a national figure but what is the next step? Do they realise that the rest of the country is living in a very different world than theirs? Do they know that most of Pakistan, even today, if asked to vote, would not want the social system that the liberals are advocating?
We understand, even those sitting on the fence, that for a country to function it needs basic human rights and justice. However the kind of mindset that is being demanded by the liberals is very difficult to achieve in a country with a literacy rate as low as ours and with the mosque not separate from the state. Is it possible to achieve high ideals like peace and justice for all in a place where we cannot even agree on whether murder is justified? Is it viable to be one of the 7 per cent and stand outside press clubs across the country, when those issues do not even matter to the majority of the nation? Of course, everyone has a right to protest about what they feel is unjust. However, can these protests not be replaced some kind of dialogue, something tangible instead of just crying ourselves hoarse?
Let us look at the other side of the equation. Do the extremists and fundamentalists think that in today’s geo-political age, such hard line views exist? Do they think that a re-formation of the Caliphate has a real chance? Say they manage to gain hold of the reins of power in Pakistan (hopefully not) in the way they took over Afghanistan – do they think that they can do so without any repercussions from our nieghbouring countries, which I might add, are several gargantuan sizes larger than us. Again, the point is: what will they gain after this jihad within Pakistan? More jihad with the rest of the world? Endless wars and killings? Is that the grand goal our peaceful religion has taught us?
In my opinion, both sides of this equation are absolutely wrong. There is no way this nation can go towards one direction without fracturing into many, many parts. The prudent thing here would be to try to heal as a nation through dialogue rather than inflicting new wounds on each other’s intellectual and physical self. We have many serious issues that need to be dealt with immediately. We may have lost our way but that does not mean there is no good in Pakistan.
All international aid agencies claimed that millions of people would be without shelter or clean drinking water in the aftermath of the recent floods, but that did not happen. We stood together as a nation, put aside our differences and lent a helping hand. Is that not proof enough for us that unity works? Those who are silent spectators in this debacle – the onus is on them, to stand up and raise their voices. They need to remind the fractured nation, that we need peaceful dialogue to begin our journey together towards progress. I realise it is easier said then done, but we need to start somewhere.
Faisal Kapadia is a Karachi-based entrepreneur and writer. He blogs at Deadpan Thoughts.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
The writer is the Editor Lingua Urdu at Global Voices. He is also the Director Digital Strategy and Social Media at Mind Map Communications. He tweets @faisalkapadia.
