Empathy: A Forgotten Virtue amongst Muslims!
By Perwaiz Ahmad
Fullerton, CA
Sad but true. Sad because it is happening in a Muslim country and true because ever since our independence in 1947, we have killed three public leaders, coincidentally all three in Rawalpindi, perhaps, to promote a hidden political agenda.
What have we done as Pakistanis to carry on the dreams of our Father of the Nation and to fulfill the aspirations of millions of people, migrants as well as indigenous, whose blood, sweat and tears were consumed to create a Nation? Nothing, zero, zilch, nada because we are not true to ourselves, our neighbors, our nation, our relatives and above all to the Almighty God.
There are more divisions amongst the populace today in Pakistan than there ever was since our Independence because we have defied the Rule of Law, decimated the Constitution, treated it like a piece of paper, are contemptuous to the highest Court of the land, trampled the rights of a vast majority of our people, looted the treasury of our Nation which was meager to begin with, divided the nation to promote in-fighting and provincial superiority, instilled fear in the minds of the populace by ignoring rampant theft at gunpoint which unfortunately has become a way of life, the life of young and old, men, women and children and even retirees are at risk 24 hours a day, seven days a week… the list goes on and on and on.
"Dilon mey kufr rakhtay hein, bazahir tou doostaana hai".
When a majority of people support their kith and kin, their leaders (religious or political) regardless of who is at fault, melee is bound to happen as we saw after the return of Benazir Bhutto in October from self-exile and eventually in her assassination on December 27, 2007. I am no fan of BB or the PPP, never have been for the last 37 years after the downfall of East Pakistan because all fingers pointed to her father Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto (ZAB) for masterminding the downfall of East Pakistan. However, better late than never, the Hamood ur Rehman report exonerated him because there was overwhelming evidence in his favor…he should not have been hanged. It seems like he was just a chess piece in the game of politics not the chess player, one who was very skillfully led into the quagmire to be booted out.
From all angles, it seems like it was a premeditated murder that was not accomplished on October 27, 2007. Weird as it may seem, some said then that it was her way of getting sympathy vote in the coming elections. When I ask those same people after her death, they say, she deserved it or it's good for Pakistan, they all should die the same way. Where is empathy amongst Muslims? Why do they become so cold hearted when a child loses his mother or father in the most inhumane way? Frankly, we don't practice what we preach, we only do things to please our peers and relatives but we don't do anything to please God.
On a micro level, we see the same colors in our community here in the USA; we notice the same attitude, that nothing matters as long as our material and social needs are fulfilled. Not too long ago a young single man from our homeland married a widow (a US citizen) with small children, the youngest was hardly six months old. After fulfilling his agenda in 6-8 years he fled like a coward and filed for divorce from another State. Another couple befriended a family that lived less than ½ a mile apart, broke their marriage of 20 years, forcing their three children to live like orphans and what did the friends and the community do? They just watched the happenings with curiosity, just like they watch a soap opera or a drama on TV.
By and large this is the current attitude of a vast majority of people, young and older alike; regardless of the group they belong to, they think that this is the only way to achieve monetary and/or social recognition. We may not admit it but this attitude is pretty pervasive in our society as well even though one may tend to think otherwise.
It is my firm belief that the success of a new nation depends absolutely on the character of the government's hierarchy, how they lead their lives and not on the masses as it is usually depicted or portrayed. It is often heard that people of a Nation get the leaders they deserve but I think to the contrary: people change when they don't see any justice on the top level and all they see is nepotism, bigotry, injustice, theft, bribery, hoarding, looting and ruling by fear. America did not become a supreme power by default, they had to swallow a bitter pill of fairness at all levels, enforce Check and Balance and the Rule of Law. Term limit of the President was initiated by a sitting President unlike our country and most Muslim countries where power is contagious and becomes a family heritance/dynasty before we know it.
The mayhem created as a result of the insane and cruel assassination of Benazir Bhutto two weeks ago seems like it was well planned and executed. History tells us that the best way to eliminate someone who is a threat to the establishment is to throw a monkey wrench into the mix right after the assassination and that is exactly what happened when Mr. J.I Cheema immediately came up with all kinds of conspiracy theories to confuse the masses, which he later back-tracked when pressed for physical evidence.
The underlying message in the brutal, untimely and coward-like assassination of Benazir Bhutto (BB) is "Shape up or ship out ". A similar event occurred here in the 1960's when some great men of the last century such as President John F Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X were assassinated because their voices resonated in unison. Just as the assassins in the USA were never truly identified and convicted to the satisfaction of the masses, Liaquat Ali Khan's murder 56 years ago remains a mystery to this day. In the case of BB It is my hunch that the few who are rich and powerful in Pakistan crafted a scheme to eliminate a voice that was getting powerful by the day, despite all the baggage she was allegedly carrying from her past. In eight years nothing was proved because the NAB itself is complicit in similar wrong doings.
Did anything concrete come out of the mass killing, 154 dead, last October when BB arrived in Karachi to address the masses? None, it got lost in the shuffle… a much more heinous crime. Was the second attempt that proved fatal for BB, the final nail on the coffin of democracy? I hope and pray not, because military rule is not the answer for any civilized country on earth. The armed forces have ruled Pakistan for more than half the period Pakistan has been in existence and the end result is always chaos and heart-piercing slogans against the sitting President, like we are hearing today against President Musharraf. It is sad to see a President who seems to have a sincere pain for his country go down with these slogans amidst mass killing. The alternative, a true democratic rule is not easy to adopt either but at least it is a small step in the right direction. All the Western European countries and USA and Canada learned this the hard way, why should we then follow the same trail, trial and error when we have a book called the Holy Qur’an that is full of wisdom and history which that cannot be traded for anything in the world but it should be followed with compassion and social justice and without prejudice.
Pakistan is more vulnerable now than ever before and the expatriates must contribute what they can to convey the message of justice, fairness, check and balance and rule of law. In other words, if we just follow the first speech of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah after Independence, prosperity, success and affluence will start knocking at our doors.
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