Daily Times

We live in trying times, in spite of all the progress — from building hotels in space to human cloning. Living in Pakistan, I often reminisce and long for the serenity and innocence of my childhood. I pine for the freedom to walk the streets, to ride my bicycle, to wear what I please without being ogled at. I want to be able to sit with my non-Muslim friends, without them or I having to explain our friendships in the context of religious ‘labels’. I so desperately want all religions to be respected again, when having a Muslim name was not a reason to be hated by the west, when being ‘white’ was not an obstacle in my country. I need to go back to what once was a tolerant society and a tolerant world.

As a bomb blast hit the Boston Marathon last month, killing three and injuring over 264, many Muslims fervently prayed for the perpetrators not to be one of them. Unfortunately, their prayers were not answered. Pakistanis prayed for them not to be of their home origin; fortunately, their connection was better! Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, and his younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, were ethnic Chechens who had been resident in the US since the past decade. Tamerlan was killed in a police encounter while Dzhokhar is in custody; both are Muslims.

On the other side of the Atlantic, three British Muslim ‘terrorists’ were jailed for preparing acts of terrorism; Richard Dart, 30, from Ealing, West London, was jailed for six years; Imran Mahmood, 22, from Northolt, West London, received nine years and nine months, and Jahangir Alom, 26, from Stratford, was jailed for four years and six months. Dart and Mahmood were both born in the UK, while Alom was born in Bangladesh. Dart is a white Muslim convert, the son of teachers from a middle-class family. He refused to stand up in court for his sentencing, stating that judgment belonged to Allah alone.

Also last month, in an interview to CNN, former Pakistani president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf admitted to Pakistan’s government having agreed to allow US drone strikes in its territory only on a few occasions, when a target was absolutely isolated and no chance of collateral damage. His admission came as no surprise to most of us who already knew that there was no way the US would have continued to bomb us with so much impunity, in violation of all norms of international law, without any regard to our ‘sovereignty’, without the ‘collusion’ of our government. Musharraf was a dictator, his actions are understandable, but what about the democratic government that completed its much touted historic five-year tenure? It is a fact that the intensity and number of drone strikes increased manifold during the last government’s term as did the retaliation from the ‘extremists’. There is evidence of radicalisation in response to these drone strikes, as many have enrolled and joined various terror outfits, and not only from Pakistan. Muslim converts like Dart and other Muslims who were born and raised in the west, are labelled as ‘committed fundamentalists’. Is the outrage of the atrocities committed against Muslims so great that it has the ability to transform people sitting thousands of miles away from the scene to believe and follow what is now called ‘radical Islam’, a term that I personally do not agree with?

The paranoia of the west about Muslims and equating Islam with terrorism has found an eager place in television serials, once aimed for entertainment. In an episode of a popular show, it was portrayed that non-Muslim children in the US were blackmailing their parents into acceding to their wishes by playing/listening to the ‘Muslim Music’ — the azaan — the ultimate perceived threat of Islamic terrorism. Islam is a tolerant and moderate religion that condemns violence, and most Muslims believe in ‘live and let live’. But there is a sad and steady deterioration in all societies the world over. Fearful of this, some have chosen to embrace religion, whichever it may be, as a means of salvation, but the real danger has come to the surface with the extremist and unyielding views of how religion is interpreted and how it has become a political agenda to be forced onto people, who may not necessarily ascribe to that particular interpretation. From George Bush’s ‘crusade’ to Pastor Terry Jones’ attempt to burn the Quran to the demolition of the Babri mosque by Hindu extremists to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban and the unfortunate razing and burning of temples and churches in Pakistan, all are unfortunate examples of ignorance, hatred, anger, resentment, and pave a path to a narrow-minded extremist view of holy scriptures that leads to radicalisation, both in the east and the west.

As people, we have become materialistic and equate success with possessions and status. I may not be bothered that my neighbour’s child has slept hungry, yet I am perturbed if my neighbour has a newer and bigger car than me. I may not care if my children do not learn any manners or values, yet I am concerned whether they have wealthy friends who can be used socially. I may not even notice whether the woman who comes to my house to wash the dishes has only two tattered joras (clothes) yet my mission in life is to get as many designer outfits as possible. It does not matter to me that in spite of equality guaranteed by the constitution there is none in my country, for God forbid, how can the gardener and I be equal?

As the bomb blasts continue in Pakistan, we gear up for Election Day; we have the power to change all this but the question is ‘do we really want change’ or are happy with the status quo? When we ourselves are dishonest, why would we want an honest government? When we want our wealth to grease the wheels of ‘justice’, why should we work towards an unbiased and uncorrupt judiciary? When we perceive ourselves to be superior, why should we lobby for equal education for all? Why should we promote land reforms when it serves our interests if our peasants work only on our lands, in eternal servitude? We live in a country that refers to some of its citizens as a ‘minority’ and makes sure the national flag carries this distinction too. Radicalisation and terror come from intolerance, inequality, insecurity, injustice, greed and ever growing resentment, and regardless of colour, race, religion or region, we are all susceptible to it, but we all have the power, within us, to stop it.

An old Cherokee chief was teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy, “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves; one is evil; he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego. The other is good: he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?” The old chief simply replied, “The one you feed.”

The writer is an advocate of the High Court