Daily Times July 29, 2014
Do we take morbid pride in calling ourselves Muslims and butchering the
innocent people of our own country in the name of religion? Who gave us the
authority to play God? Is it just illiteracy or did our hearts really turn as
cold as those of the Jews we see in Israel today?
Being a Muslim in Pakistan, uploading posts and pictures on
social media about the freedom of Gaza is fairly easy but when it comes to
saving your own country and making things right for it by practically standing
up against the ‘dark forces’, the whole nation goes silent. It is simple!
Nobody wants to clean up their own mess. Today, Pakistanis are killing each
other in the name of religion. Be it Ahmedis, Christians or Shias who are the
victims of this never-ending violence, there is chaos everywhere despite the
fact that Pakistan is a so-called ‘Muslim country’. Many Pakistanis, especially
those who sit online, are feeling repugnant towards the Israelis. We are
calling them cruel, insensitive, soulless and every other bad name we can think
of. We are sharing the pictures of burnt Palestinian children online, we are
tweeting every hour about the plight of the Palestinians and how remorseful we
are about what is happening but have we taken a minute to ask ourselves how
remorseful we should be about our own country? Do we take morbid pride in
calling ourselves Muslims and butchering the innocent people of our own country
in the name of religion? Who gave us the authority to play God? Is it just
illiteracy or did our hearts really turn as cold as those of the Jews we see in
Israel today? Today, every contact I have on Facebook is standing up for Gaza
but will they ever stand up for Pakistan? Will they stand up for every
victimised person of this country regardless of the sect he/she belongs to?
We are not willing to make things better as a nation because
it is difficult to step out of our comfort zone when we are not the victims of
these brutal attacks. We are Muslims and we only stand up when we are the
targets of sectarian violence. We only stand up when it is our children who get
killed. We only stand up when it is our own houses that get burned. And if we
are not the victims, then we are safe enough to continue our lives by sharing
posts on Facebook and feeling satisfied at the so-called effort we are making.
Maybe today, if we had resolved the sectarian conflicts in our own country,
Gaza might have gotten some real help from us. If today we had realised what being
a human actually is, we might have saved Gaza along with Pakistan. We are
failing our country every day. We are failing because we have forgotten the law
of karma. Karma awaits us all. Today, no matter how many Jewish products we
boycott, we are no different than them.
Today, Pakistan is divided into two forces in which half of the people
are playing the part of the Palestinians and the other half have taken up the
responsibility to portray the role of the cruel Zionists. The one thing we have
all forgotten is that, first and foremost, we should be human. We have lost the
essence of our human nature. Are we killing each other because we do not
approve of each other’s choice of religion, way of faith? We are humans when we
are born. Religion is a choice. And only God can judge a person on the choices
they make. The only choice worth making here is between violence and peace. Any
sensible human being would opt for peace.
Today I am not proud to be a Pakistani because my own countrymen are
killing each other every day. Today, I do not want to stand up for Gaza because
my own country is acting like the aggressive Israel. We are becoming what we
hate. Today, I just hope that we extinguish the fires of hate that dwell in our
hearts before it is too late. It is about our country, about our people. Save
both of them before you head out on a mission to save Gaza.
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