As I hear about the unfortunate impending ground invasion of the Gaza strip, I am forced to think why we still have not seen any substantial response from the Pakistani nation favouring the inhabitants of Gaza. I have come upon two possible theories: we have either too many issues to deal with domestically, or we are a confused bunch because Israel’s actions hold a striking resemblance with our own. The first possibility in which we as a nation have too much on our plate already can be termed as somewhat correct. We have the all-important general elections coming up; the democratically elected parliament has outlived its historically short lifespan, limping to the finish line; and Bal Thackeray just died. A messy affair in Karachi goes on unchecked; the Supreme Court seemingly locked horns in a bullfight with all other entities, supported by their respective minions; and spending time, relentlessly bashing our favourite personality Imran Khan all the while dismissing him merely as an irritant. Cable television operators are reportedly busy in arm-twisting tactics with PEMRA to get their favourite Indian entertainment channels back on air; and then there is our second-favourite personality Rehman Malik who is probably the only interior minister having to his credit a twitter trend suggesting the things he should ban instead of pillion riding and cell phones (#ThingsRehmanMalikShouldBan). We are a busy bunch indeed. Sorry Gaza, no hard feelings, right? However, crises never ceased to put us in peril since day one. We have been in turmoil of one sort or another since the very day in 1947 when we finally subscribed to the narrative of being physically independent. Historically, Pakistani society has never let down support for the Palestinians’ intifada, come what may. But this time round our lethargy has the upper hand. We are indeed very confused and this fact is enough to prove it: every day, at least one talk show host discussing the Taliban, authoritatively, reminds his guests how confused the nation is when dealing with the subject of militancy. Purportedly, it is all stemming from the differing stances on this issue of the dozens of political parties (read: family concerns) running the country. Having watched half a show just now and reading side-by-side the news coming out of Gaza puts me in a moral quandary. Can I justify bombing FATA with F-16s, Apache choppers and UAVs after, say, a suicide attack in Islamabad when I am protesting against Israel justifying bombing of Gaza with F-16s, Apache choppers and UAVs after those rocket strikes on Tel Aviv? Hang on a minute! Aren’t they sort of the same when in both cases we justify taking out ‘militant targets and terrorists’ that pose an existential threat to our society in ‘precision strikes’ with minimum collateral damage? To me that is a classic case of hypocrisy on my side. If I do it, it is justified; if you do it then it is very, very wrong. As of this moment, Gaza’s civilian death count has risen beyond 40, which includes at least eight children and infants. If we are to protest against Israel’s actions, because no matter how many rockets fall into Israel it does not give the Israeli Defence Forces license to kill innocent people, then we must also protest against our own selves. Because no matter how many suicide/car/motorcycle bombings and shootings occur in our cities, it does not give us the right to kill innocent people by using force in a disproportionate manner. Israel has reportedly carried out a couple of hundred sorties in the last few days and many of us are already popping arteries. Here at home we have used our famed air force to fly over 5,500 missions from 2008-2011 to FATA alone, dropping more than 10,000 bombs. Ring any alarm bells? Such disproportionate attacks do achieve one result: it antagonises the inhabitants of the bombed area and becomes a political statement against the bombers often used for recruitment of resistance foot soldiers, aka militants. The same is happening in Gaza, and the same happens in FATA. As long as both Israel and our own society continues to bank on the shortcut of killing ‘militants’ (rather than solving basic conflicts and following the due process of law), and justify the loss of civilian lives under the pretext of self-defence against an ‘existential threat’, they will continue to dig themselves deeper in this decades old mess. So before we begin torching cinemas and petrol stations and try to emulate the US ambassador’s killing in Libya in a delayed hypersensitive reaction to Israel’s treatment of the Gazans, we should reflect on how we treat our own countrymen living in the hills not too far west of Islamabad. We should indeed follow what our lovable Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself. The writer is a young member of the healthcare fraternity with a keen eye for current affairs. He can be reached on Twitter at @ASilentKnight