Daily Times

It is business as usual as we go on doing our daily chores. When our fellow civilians become victims of terror we watch the event in a breaking news feed and that is it. Polio workers who are contributing towards a noble cause are killed by mercenaries in the name of religion and we are not moved from our couches. Our troops get slain and we do not rally for them. We, the direct beneficiaries of the sacrifices of these brave individuals, have become selfish. Our lives are being ruled by our lifestyles. No doubt, we detest these happenings but never go beyond condemnation in private either because we have become slaves of comfort or because we are fearful of the enemy. We have not let our revulsion translate into anger that would have made us act. We thus choose to remain practically silent and this emboldens the forces of darkness who take benefit from our inaction. What is most disturbing is that most of us are not even aware that this silence is a burden on our conscience and is consuming our freedom.

It is hard to find an atheist in Pakistan as almost all believe in God. Yet when it comes to defeating fear and speaking up against the terrorists, our faith is shaken. We forget that, while fear cannot banish, faith has the power to do so. Yet how many of us have even routinely prayed to the Almighty to assist us in fighting these forces of darkness? Does prayer require the prompting of a mullah (cleric), a pundit or a pastor? When someone close to us gets really sick we need no one to prompt us to pray. Why then do we not seek His help in combating the enemy who kills in His name?

Luckily, all are not alike and we do have in our society people who cannot live with this burden and speak up defeating both fear — the most potent tool of the terrorists — and complacency. We therefore find in our midst people like Imtiaz Alam who received death threats for speaking the truth, Raza Rumi who was targeted by gunmen on March 28 and Jamshed Baghwan on whose house in Peshawar masked men riding on a motorcycle threw a hand grenade on April 6. This brave lot of people, all of whom cannot be listed here for the sake of brevity, are neither slaves of their lifestyle nor intimidated by fear. They are the soul of the nation. They carry forward the torch of liberty, which the forces of darkness want extinguished. They report the truth and are vocal. They exercise their right of freedom of expression, which the bloodthirsty terrorist zombies hate. The timid enemy is afraid of the power of the pen. The forces of darkness know that an alternate viewpoint is a killer blow to their doctrine and go all out to silence these voices through all possible means. Extermination is an option that they do not hesitate to exercise as it also serves the dual purpose of instilling fear in the minds of the common man who they want to subjugate and rule. As history has proved, silencing one gives a voice to many others. This is a war that only the brave will win.

Our forces, who are fighting this enemy within, need the full support of the people. Yes, the people rallied for them when the MQM made a call in Karachi but, unfortunately, the majority of our leaders today lack the grit and resolve to lead. Why did the public support remain confined to Sindh? Undoubtedly, the people from Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will also rally if someone is brave enough to give them a call. Why is it that the PML-N or the PTI have not rallied for those who laid down their lives for the soul of Pakistan? People need leaders who mould public opinion, not those who fear dissenting from those taking up arms. It is so unfortunate that ours shun their responsibility and choose not to mould public opinion despite being offered security at public expense. While they and their families are protected, they are so oblivious of their responsibility that providing security to the media persons who are leading this fight back on the civilian front is not on their priority list.

We find Bilawal tweeting with the right words but when it comes to getting out of virtual reality, coming to Punjab and leading the civilian fight back from the most populous province, security is made an excuse. It is true that his mother and grandfather were eliminated, but the example his mother set should be his guide. Being born to a great leader carries great responsibility. He needs to shoulder that if he wants to serve his people. The call of the nation is for a real leader who leads from the front and makes people rally around him. The people need a voice. Will someone raise it? The silence needs to be broken. This is too heavy a burden for our national conscience. Martin Luther King Jr once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” How right he is. We all want peace but not at the expense of our freedom. That is the bottom line. We must make this heard. If we do not raise our voices now we will be committing collective suicide. We should not let it happen.

The writer can be reached at
thelogicalguy@yahoo.com