Daily Times

From social stratification to economic dissection, most politicians have been resisting the occurrence of truth since decades. Branding the unfair as fair, traitor as patriot, and criminal as innocent is child’s play for the outspoken politicians. Accordingly, the nation has learnt the same from their leaders. Loads of illiteracy in the country have further set the stage for putting the nation to the slippery road of social aggression and political hostility. Indiscriminately, we pretend to demonstrate our ultimate loyalty to the preferred political party. We elect leaders and they appear to be dealers later on. Why do we keep on defending them despite knowing the truth?

We, as an esteemed nation, could not make the politicians understand the level of our civic strength. However, a few politicians have successfully annexed weird things with our aggregate character. We do not listen; we speak. We do not follow; we instruct. We do not comprehend; we argue. We do not smile; we ridicule. We stand to sit again; we sit to never stand again. We excel leaving fellow beings far behind. We intend to do well; we act to resist the truth. We are really indescribable to ourselves! We mastered these arts from our political leaders who have densely shadowed the whole nation. We learn from their intimidate behaviour on the media talks.

Our superior courts of law chastise the corrupt, but the intruding political dissection starts turning the table. Not a single voter of PMLN admits that their beloved leaders had done corruption. Not a single voter of PTI is ready to confess that Imran Khan appointed some disappointments in important ministries. The voters of PPPP need no reason to follow their leaders because Bhutto is still alive. The political leaders and their respective voters quench their political thirst using religion, economy and natural calamities as the canvassing tools for baiting votes. In spite of knowing the essence of crippled democracy in Pakistan, we turn our face from what is right and thus try to overpower the truth.

Political gossiping is what we could call our national hobby

Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, preached unity, faith and discipline. Unfortunately, we appear to be scattered, distrusted and undisciplined. Unity has been buried under the soil of sectarian, social and political divisions. We lack faith, but we claim to be the most faithful ones on the planet. So as discipline is concerned, we resist positive change and decide to go with the mess everywhere. In the wake of the current COVID-19 scenario, if someone blames us of being undisciplined, we do everything to resist reality. That is how we have been eroding our capacity to learn, reform and implement.

We have derived wrong meanings of various terms to curve them to the way we love to go. Most people misinterpret the concept of freedom, gender equality, and religious thoughts. This misinterpretation has made us the slaves of mere freedom. A few Pakistanis has polluted the great cause of gender equality with irrational feminist slogan of “my body, my rights”. We do not wait to be treated in a civilized way; we offer ourselves to be treated the way others like.

Pakistan is considered to be one of the most generous countries of the world. It means we take great care of the poor. Why are our poor getting poorer then? Pakistan captures a good position on the Word Happiness Index. Where has our happiness disappeared then? Pakistan has one of the most managed canal systems. Why are our agricultural lands turning dry then? We have the world’s best deposits of natural resources, but optimal utilisation of these resources bears a big question mark. The truth is that we do not accept truth.

Political gossiping is what we could call our national hobby. We suggest policies at our workplaces, barber shops, tea spots and wedding ceremonies, and the leaders to whom we have entrusted the responsibility of policy-making do not come out of the hangover of power. Irrespective of the level of education acquired, we take irrelevant positions to justify the unjustifiable. We must muster up courage to admit the fact that we fight for our political leaders and ignore fighting the socio-economic miseries.

We are suffocating the truth with full might. It is alarming. What I have started believing is that we have entered the vicious circle of manufacturing stories and fabricating wrong philosophies to merely streamline our sentiments. We aim at satiating our tactfully stimulated emotions without knowing the importance of preferring national sovereignty to our individual interests. Unfortunately, we have developed a misdirected approach to perceive things. Every one of us knows the performance of the country’s judicial system could be improvised, but we opt for keeping quiet. Consequently, the accused of child abuse are set free and the murderers are allowed to cruise freely in the country.

I request the nation to absorb truth, admit our mistakes and confess our idiocies. That would be a great start to achieving self-reliance, prosperity, reverence and happiness. God bless us!

The writer is a researcher and journalist