Daily Times

“Socrates: Have you noticed on our journey how often the citizens of this new land remind each other it is a free country?

Plato: I have, and think it odd they do this.

Socrates: How so, Plato?

Plato: It is like reminding a baker he is a baker, or a sculptor he is a sculptor.

Socrates: You mean to say if someone is convinced of their trade, they have no need to be reminded?

Plato: That is correct.

Socrates: I agree. If these citizens were convinced of their freedom, they would not need reminders.” — E. A. Bucchianeri: ‘Brushstrokes of a Gadfly’

A critical review of the seventy years of Pakistan’s existence would tell one story rather clearly: that not only has the growth of the state been stagnated for long, the thinking patterns associated with this phenomenon continue to regress further.

Whether we trace this to the adoption of the Objectives Resolution, or a medley of maladies which have impacted the trajectory of our growth, or the quality of leadership that has ruled the country, there is little by way of disputing this fundamental reality.

It is also relevant to state that unless the manner and substance of our thinking transcend the barriers of retardation and regression, there would be little prospect of traversing a course that would generate any different results than what have sprouted forth in the past seven decades.

There is one further factor which makes the situation even more depressing. Not only do we not have the courage to break the towering walls of dogma that surround us, the forces of regression which abound have their tentacles digging deeper. Consequently, we become acquiescing victims of this spreading hydra.

Apparently, there is a state of numbness that has settled in. This is further compounded by a lack of belief in our ability to fight the forces which have brought this about, whether these be internal or external, or whether these be linked to our thought processes or inaction, or both. Over years, this inability has further degenerated to an acceptance of what a bulk of the people around would refer to as the inevitable: resignation before forces which they consider to be more powerful, even ordained.

Noam Chomsky has an appropriate description of situations like the one brewing in Pakistan: “Popular struggles to bring about a freer and more just society have been resisted by violence and repression, and massive efforts to control opinion and attitudes. Over time, however, they have met with considerable success, even though there is a long way to go, and there is often regression”.

The principal instrument used by those who perpetuate this state of regression is instilling fear of a variety of kinds, rendering one unable to trigger the change. As one lies immersed deeply in fluids of stagnation, a feeling of inertia sets in that further compounds the levels of numbness.

In a society that we have degenerated to become, silence is not an instrument of expression. The process of change can be shaped and heralded only through a collective voice of national activism. This change will have to begin with a change in the way we think about things around us — things which are shaping our tomorrow

Just imagine the forms of fear which are constantly looming: the fear of the state power, the fear of the pontiff, the fear of discriminatory and regressive laws, the fear of losing a job, or the fear of something happening to the family. How many will have the courage to withstand the assault?

It is also an unequal fight. While the rudimentary forces which are still eager to launch a struggle for change are virtually chained in real or imaginary fears, the forces of repression are free and gaining in strength as more and more people fall prey to their indoctrinations

In the process, the general discourse among people has also plummeted to newer depths of decay. It stands denuded of its veneer of reason and logic. It encompasses trite repetitions of what is accumulated through hearsay and exposure to painful harangues by powers promoting a continuity of the status quo based on rules which have long been redundant.

So, a change which should have come about long ago through taking measured steps along the road to growth, development and enlightenment has been overshadowed by the vile and wicked machinations of those who have enjoyed perpetual abode in the corridors of power — be they from the dictatorial or democratic eras which have taken turns to rule this country. They have virtually stymied both the process as well as the prospect of freedom.

What are we left with today after seventy not-so-momentous years of our existence? We have been virtually reduced to mere skeletons, symbolising erasable vestiges of the enshrining principles of our founding. Worse still, we are engaged in fratricidal killings in laying claim to this towering edifice of regression which has sprung up through a combination of vile indoctrinations on the one hand, and use of despotic tools of implementation on the other.

In spite of its excessive putridity, and at times because of that, if we actually plan on breaking the chains of captivity, as some optimists suggest we should, how do we propel this ambition and what should be the contours of this forward momentum?

Before we make the move, we should ponder whether we can live with the highly offensive levels of degradation which have piled up. This wobbly super-structure is grossly incongruous, unnatural and unsustainable.

If dismantling this edifice be the people’s will, then, ideally, this should be expressed through the elected parliament.

That institution having become irrelevant, what are the other options that people can exercise to trigger the desired change?

A narrative built around national security paradigm leaves little space for pragmatic discourse and, consequently, the launching of a possible reformation movement spearheaded by the intellectual elite of the country. There may be stray voices for change, but there is no collective narrative. In the event this silence continues, there is likelihood that these stray voices will also drown with time.

In a society that we have degenerated to become, silence is not an instrument of expression. The process of change can be shaped and heralded only through a collective voice of national activism. This change will have to begin with a change in the way we think about things around us — things which are shaping our tomorrows.

But, beware the lengthening shadows of regression!

The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute — an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: @RaoofHasan

Published in Daily Times, October 24^th 2017.