Brutalisation of society

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=194562

Monday, August 24, 2009 Mohammad A Qadeer Over a span of one week in August, eight Christians were burnt alive in Gojra, a Muslim factory owner and two of his assistants were murdered in Muridke and a Muslim woman in Sanghar fled to the police protection from the gangs baying for her blood. What is common in all these incidents is that these were acts of mob violence prompted by allegations of the desecration of the Quran. Also these incidents happened in small towns where people know each other and supposedly community spirit prevails. In other instances, a traffic accident turns into an orgy of torching vehicles. Petty thieves caught in a heist are burnt alive as a matter of mob justice. In Karachi, a city that takes pride in its urban sophistication, neighbours attack each other to vent ethnic anger. About 330 cases of honour killings, on average, have been reported in each of the past three years. The Taliban and Islamic militants have raised cruelty and violence to a sacred enterprise. They revel in gruesomeness. Beheading prisoners, bombing schools and video stores, stoning women and kidnapping are sanctified as the instruments of their promised order. Yet many among the educated middle classes admire the Taliban for their �purity�. Even in personal matters we are quick to resort to violence. Young lawyers in the Lahore High Court beat up a police inspector and later attacked a journalist for having caught their act on camera. A senior federal officer assaulted a female doctor at a hospital in Islamabad. Parliamentary arguments quickly drift towards mutual threats of physical thrashing. Universities and colleges frequently echo with gunfire and gangs of student toughs run these institutions as the battleground of political parties. Why are we so quick to resort to violence? Yes, mullahs orchestrate mob violence in the name of blasphemy or desecration of the Quran. Yet the question is: why are normally peaceful people so susceptible to the incitement by mullahs? Even in our personal dealings, arguments escalate into challenges to fight. These are not examples of unusual happenings, but are indications of what has become normal in Pakistan. The question is: why has this state of affairs come about? First, the present state of affairs was not always so. During British rule and in the early years of Pakistan, laws against mob violence were strictly enforced. One could not get away with an honour killing. Beating up somebody was prosecuted. Gradually we have lost these restraints. Our current proneness to violence is the result of cumulated frustrations and sense of injustices arising from widening social disparities, breakdown of the rule of law and the increasing irrelevance of laws. People see everyday that the powerful get away, literally and figuratively, with murder. Second, though physically and economically Pakistani society is urbanised, socially and morally the hold of rural and tribal values has increased. Development has vastly expanded the ranks of the army officers, doctors, engineers and lawyers, drawing the newly educated professionals originating from rural areas. They have brought notions of honour, revenge and clan loyalty. These notions have come to define our current moral order. Third, the Islamic discourse in Pakistan has hardened. The liberal viewpoints within the Islamic discourse are repressed with threats of apostasy by the fundamentalists. No alternative viewpoint has been allowed space in the national discourse. Instead of engaging in arguments, the orthodox Islamists are quick to declare someone not agreeing with their views as a kafir or an American or Jewish agent. General Zia�s Hadood Ordinance and the blasphemy laws are a case in point. Their promised harsh punishments have reduced the shock value of violence. Who will cringe now at the thought of torturing an accused thief if chopping his hands is the acceptable punishment! Cruelty has been given the religious sanction. Fourth, the gradual slide in the state�s capabilities of maintaining law and order and protecting citizens from crime has made violence a daily affair. The state maintained strict neutrality in denominational disputes and prosecuted those threatening to disturb harmony and order. The state has lost its capacity to maintain peace and dispense justice. People are relying on jirgas, clans, biradaris, qabza groups and mullahs to seek redress and protection. These mechanisms are partisan and arbitrary. Ultimately they lead to the breakdown of law and order. Fifth, the literature, media and textbooks romanticise war and conquest. History is dished out as a tale of struggle between the sword wielding Muslim conquerors and the perfidious infidels. Gen Zia�s Islamisation of curricula have reinforced the tendency to be intolerant and suspicious of others. People are fed a diet of conspiracy theories and a glorified past. Rational narratives, objective analysis and calm argumentation are not any more a part of the national discourse. How does Pakistan retreat from this state of affairs? The foremost step is the reform of the state and enforcement of peace, order and good government. Freedom of opinion backed by the state�s guarantee of protection is a pre-requisite for peace. One exception should be preaching violence against others or branding others as kafirs. Such pronouncements or fatwas should be prosecuted. Also curricula should be revised and enforceable ethical codes for journalists, priests and teachers should be introduced. The immediate challenge is dealing with the Taliban and other militants in open rebellion. How to do this is another topic, but what needs to be done is not to compromise with their violent agenda. If Pakistan wants to survive as a prosperous and peaceful nation, it has to de-brutalise its society and change the mindset. It should be on the agenda of all political parties. The writer is the author of the book, �Pakistan � social and cultural transformations in a Muslim nation�. Email: mq35 @hotmail.com