Fallen heroes

December is one of the fogy months of the year in Pakistan. The fog envelops most of the country with frequent load shedding and gas shortages. But in the recent years winter has emerged as a blood thirsty month. Somewhere assassinations are done in the fog and dampness of Punjabi cold.

In 2007, Benazir Bhutto was murdered in Rawalpindi, shrouded in mystery. The murder was claimed to be political in nature. Almost 4 years later a close party member, a follower and one of the inner coterie members of PPP was killed in Islamabad.

Both assassinations were different. Their execution having a different anatomy but their cause was somewhere same.

In the last decade Pakistan as a nation has emerged into two distinct groups. Bifurcations may not be entirely true, but they make sense when we look at the political landscape. There is an emergence of a politically right wing attitude, and a liberal mind set.

This has been fuelled mostly by the poverty gap in the last decades. Pakistan has struggled with democracy, economic and political stability and then extremism rising through the core of the society.

Most societies and countries have people with different opinions. Presence of a strong right wing or left wing is not a unique phenomenon. Even in west there are strong right wing parties with religious agendas. But in case of Pakistan this story has gone entirely wrong.

Left wing parties or left wing approach is nothing new for a country created in name of Islam. The ruling party PPP had always a left wing agenda. The main slogan of the party was communist inspired. A promise to provide basic necessities to the people of the country. A promise that not only tarnished a dream but also a generation.

Pakistanis kept on dreaming. When there is dictatorship they pray for democratic government. And when there is a coup they celebrate in streets. Corruption nepotism and injustice are incessant problems.

This feeling of deprivation has given way to the so called rightwing philanthropic organizations. Unlike their left wing counter parts these organizations work on grass roots. They exploit poverty blaming it on the western masters of the government.

Hence a large part of Pakistan conceives that their left wing government is responsible for the malice.

Now what triggered these murders. These political assassinations.

Salman Taseer was not killed because he was supporting a forlorn Christian woman. He was killed because of mistrust Pakistanis have on the system. Because of the prevailing injustice where mob psychology rules and people want to take law in their own hands.

He was killed because when people live in a society without any social structure they feed themselves on divine ideas of grandeur. They seek help and solace in an imaginary life here after.

They would do any thing to get their so called imagination of the word justice.

Salman Taseer was killed by the mentality of a nation. By a crumbled society. By people who are trying to find a way out of misery and pain.

We do need to stand up for injustice for which Salman stood. He was brave enough to speak in a society where people get killed on having opinions. But most of all we need to have a sense of justice and civil society.

Where we know that there are courts to deal. Not men..

Until then we will have fallen heroes and martyrs. And no one will be there to help us out of this misery.

 

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