All the moments of past are in
past and all that lay in future is in future, and what we actually possess is
the current moment that we live in. Death is nothing but the loss of this
single moment. This was how philosophers of the stoic school used to describe
death, and once we think in these terms, death does not seem to be much of a
loss as it is nothing but a loss of but one moment. Hence the loss of life is
not to be mourned in exaggerated manner because like it or not, time heals all
wounds including death of the loved one. After all, what is the point of that
kind of mourning that diminishes with time. If the loss is true and great, its
feeling should not diminish but we know it diminishes hence when the wise
encounter the death of someone, they pause for a moment, pay their respect to
the dead and move on with the life. As we Muslims say, إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
- We belong to Allah and to Him we shall return. In the same way a wise person
is always at peace with the death that is inevitable because it is nothing but
the loss of one moment, the present moment and nothing more. So death is
inevitable and normal, and we should not mourn the normal.
But is the death of Zainab, the
seven years girl from Qasoor raped and murdered normal?
Well the simple test is that do
as a nation will we feel the sense of loss couple of weeks from now?
Like it or not, we will not
remember it in couple of weeks from now as we would have moved on by then thus
making rape and murder just like any other death - normal.
Not only that we have made
violent deaths normal but have also normalized the nauseating response to such
incidents by the society; the response that is not only nauseating but morally
repugnant, impotent in result and whose sole purpose is not to do something
about it but to creatively use it as an opportunity to aggrandize or as a mean
of venting the anger.
So the Chief Minister Punjab has
gone there to meet the parents with TV Cameras rolling promising that culprit
will be caught within 24 hours. Isn’t this what he normally does after every
violent murder or rape for last so many years? Yeah he also fires couple of
officers, and he must have already done that too.
The great democratic leader
Moulana Tahir ul Qadri has already dashed to Qasoor and will use one more death
for his political agenda. Isn’t this his normal formula of politics?
PTI will point fingers at PMLN and Punjab
Police and say that had it been as efficient as KPK police, this would not have
happened. Isn’t it normal for PTI to do so i.e. whatever the occasion, bring on
the anti-government rhetoric?
Punjab police when encountered
with protest will do what it normally does. That is they will beat the hell out
of anyone who dare protest to them or better shoot couple of them. That is how
they normally behave.
People will burn tyres, block
road as this is what they normally do because they cannot trust the government
functionaries, politicians or anyone else to solve their problems. So when pain
of being treated like cockroaches becomes unbearable, they vent out some anger
and then in few days will go back home and keep living the same wretched
existence that they normally do.
So, we have made the most heinous
crime as just another normal occurrence of life in the land of pure. Because if
it is not normal then such incidents will not happen again though after every
violent death we are told that this will not happen again.
So after death of innocent
children APS, are our children free from terror in their schools? There is a
reason why all schools are told to beef up security, so you see - expecting such
terror has become normal.
Are Hazaras safe in Quetta? Don’t
know but many have migrated out of Pakistan thus making acceptance of the fact
that state of Pakistan cannot protect its own citizens as another normal. Well
done state of Pakistan.
Any incident that keeps occurring
is a normal incident. In Pakistan violent death is normal, incompetency of
state is normal, getting away with crime is normal, double faced politicians
are normal, and institutions interfering in others’ sphere is normal, not
getting justice is normal. Actually, a proper functioning country where
everyone is doing what he or she is supposed to do has become totally abnormal in Pakistan.
Long Live Pakistan. Long live
residents of Jati Umara. Long live residents of Bilawal House. Long live
residents of Bani Gala. Long live residents of GHQ.
And as far as Zainab is
concerned, let us say إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ
