Daily Times

The above lines from Faiz’s unforgettable poem on Pakistan’s independence have a message that has lingered through decades, growing in meaning and relevance as we have moved along.

In August 1947, it was the harrowing spectre of death that forced him to use expressions like ‘stained light’ and ‘night-bitten dawn’ for that consequential morning. It is our plunge into deep retrogression that renders these expressions even more relevant today. The intervening period has been one endless expanse of pain and agony which appears virtually impenetrable, yet unforgettable.

We started our journey with the words of the Quaid resounding powerfully from the floor of the first constituent assembly glowing profusely with the hope and promise of an enlightened, progressive, tolerant and egalitarian land affording equal opportunity to all irrespective of the constraints of religion, sect, caste, creed or colour. We are here today having effectively buried all of that under piles of debris.

Why did this happen? Why did we bury the very purpose of our creation, the promise of our future so recklessly, so unthinkingly?

Why is it that a bunch of people who are completely shred of wisdom and imagination rule us, riding a sequence of draconian edicts laden with the blood of those who sacrificed their lives for the dream? Why is it that we are fooled so easily and so consistently? Why is it that, having been bitten incessantly, we insist on carrying forth our pain and agony?

The parameters allowing discussion and dialogue are shrinking rapidly. More and more issues are being pushed beyond the pale of a rational engagement, encompassing strictures of legal, religious and security dimensions. Consequently, most of what needs to be debated lies beyond the scope of this luxury. So, the society can do nothing but continue to stagnate and float in its own putrid juices which become more pungent as we move along in time

There is defiance, but it is not of the corrupt and the inept, but of law and the just. There is anger not at those who have brought us to this humiliating pass, but at why this morbid lot is not allowed to indulge in further loot and plunder. There is resentment not of the precious time lost, but of the time that needs to be spent to remedy the decline. Are we such self-inflicting people that it is perpetual pain that we seek relief in?

We still need crutches to walk. Sometimes, these crutches are for seeking refuge under the lengthening shadows of religious and nationalist bigotry, and sometimes under the porous umbrella of security and democracy protestations. Even after seventy years as a free and sovereign state, we are neither free, nor have we been able to establish our sovereignty or managed to learn walking on our own, even less so with our heads held high.

The voices of dissonance are rampant. These voices are not for a cause or conviction, but for advancing self-elevating interests — the interests of a small coterie of the traditional and corrupt ruling elite. These voices of dissonance are laboriously generated to create a stir to use the consequent space to further perpetuate a myopic and pre-orchestrated agenda.

The few institutions which are showing signs of a level of transparency and commitment to the state are the principal targets of venom because they are reckoned as threats to the incestuous lust of these marauders. Efforts are afoot to silence these institutions by weaving rings of controversy around them.

Since gaining independence, the pride in our freedom has continued to recede and, today, we are much farther away from that coveted goal than we were back in 1947 at the advent of that “night-bitten” dawn. Worse still, the tentacles of self-righteousness and regression are only digging in deeper with the passage of time.

The parameters allowing discussion and dialogue are shrinking rapidly. More and more issues are being pushed beyond the pale of a rational engagement, encompassing strictures of legal, religious and security dimensions. Consequently, most of what needs to be debated lies beyond the scope of this luxury. So, the society can do nothing but continue to stagnate and float in its own putrid juices which become more pungent as we move along in time.

Not that we don’t know the underlying issues spelling this mammoth disaster. National Action Plan (NAP) was crafted for ridding the country of the fangs of militancy. It was a unanimously approved plan which must be rotting somewhere in the dustbin of some lowly functionary of a not-too-relevant department.

Is it that we can’t do this, or we don’t want to do this? I don’t think there are any constraints prohibiting us from tackling these existential issues. It is not being pursued because our leaders are afraid that it would disturb the traditional lines of political support that facilitate their path to the seats of power. It is self interest in preference to the national cause which is gradually liquidating the edifice of the state as it was envisioned to be.

Most certainly, we are drifting. Quo Vadis, my land of hope?

If we continue treading the course that we currently are, we are headed to soon becoming a bigoted theocratic state. The recent abominable surrender before the forces of sectarian militancy is a testament of that prospect. More of such sit-ins will gain currency in a bid to force the state to acquiesce to further religiosity-laden manipulations.

Mainstreaming of terror outfits by allowing them to wear political hats is another step in that direction. We are doing so under the misleading premise that a political role will automatically de-radicalise the militants of their penchant for inflicting terror. As I said earlier, the scope for a rational dialogue preceding policy formulation is a scarce commodity in the country.

We also hear that the seminaries need to be regulated. Right, but it has been said multiple times in the past also. What is the guarantee that we would do this now that we have not been able to do in the past?

I don’t see a sustainable change of approach on the horizon. It is a deeply flawed direction that we are headed in. This will not unravel a morning resplendent with the promise of hope, but plunge us deeper into the quagmire of regression and theocracy.

Faiz was dubbed a ‘traitor’ for writing beyond the pale of the permitted. So will others be now that the chains are being pulled tighter. But, I refuse to end on a post of despondency. Let me indulge pleasurably the strident notes of Faiz’s everlasting hope:

“Beyond the scaffold, in the far distance,

The red of your lips kept leaping in the air,

The black of your hair kept casting its spell,

The silver of your hands kept shimmering.”

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, December 12^th 2017.