The killings in France were tragic whoever the pepetrators. Even more tragic and heartbreaking for us in Pakistan was the senseless mowing down of little children in their so neat little green and greys in Peshawar. Nobody has the right to take life.
Pakistan’s schizophrenia and public hypocrisy had never been so starkly contrasted till after the French incident. After the Peshawar tragedy there was no call for a national rally to show resolve against the terrorists. The person who had kept the nation on tenterhooks for nearly 130 days, the one and only Dharna Khan, capable of this call, whimpered and mumbled and APC’d as did other political leaders.
It’s now clear that on top of mind for Dharna Khan then were his nuptials as 130 mothers wept at their children’s graves.
Only the MQM called for a public rally. A few hundred brave souls lead by Jibran Nasir picketed Abdul Aziz and Lal Mosque.
The rest was a deafening silence from 200 million spineless souls except for a few safe twitters and facebook comments by armchair twitteratis like me.
Shame on us, Pakistan. Shame on all of us.
In contrast France rallied the nation and the globe around its so called liberty and managed to collect 40 leaders and 3 million people to defend a rag sheet.
While it has been shocking to see the servitude and insensitivity of the Pakistani nation it was even more shocking to see the crass hypocrisy at Public display in France not just in the 40 leaders who made up the spectacle but the millions who joined in support in Paris.
Many of these were Muslim leaders who, oh so, sombrely linked arms in the chain with Netanyahu, that great defender of Palestinian rights and freedom and free speech. One such Muslim leader was from the land of Nejd and Hejaz, freshly arrived from the flogging of a social media activist in his own country, to show his solidarity for a gutter rag publication. The publication which defiled the image of this man’s professed religion’s most revered and cherished figure.
Sickening and disgusting hypocrisy.
Little does one know that French comedian Dieudonné has been banned from public appearances in France because of his anti semetic jokes.
Pro Palestinian demonstrations are banned in France by law.
So while France can selectively choose to curb the civil liberties and free speech of some it continued to allow a rag of a newspaper to continously and deliberately and baitingly insult the sensitivities of a community in the name of liberty and free speech.
This publication has never chosen to insult Jews and or Prophet Musa despite the many opportunities, Israeli injustices against the Palestinians, has provided it. And may it never insult Prophet Musa, a deeply revered figure in Islam as well or for that matter any personage for which any community has sacred and reverential emotions and feelings.
While Western social orders get extremely upset if words like Nigger for African Americans or Nazis for Israeli soldiers, are used, but it’s perfectly acceptable for these same societies to ridicule, insult, humiliate the Prophet of Islam, in the name of free speech.
So my issue is twofold. A feeling of terrible sadness at the spineless servitude of the Pakistani Nation and it’s so called leaders especially Dharna Khan when our own were mowed down.
And the sickening hypocrisy of the West, France and our Muslim Countries in showing solidarity with a rag and its double standards.