Zara Ahmad
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment