It should have been called a day to express our anger against an anti-Islam film made in the USA by a man with a history of hate-crimes, financial fraud and attacks on Muslims. Included was rage against a French magazine which published blasphemous cartoons.
We protested the way we always protest. The day's tally in Karachi was 17 dead including two cops and 100 injured including 12 policemen. Five cinemas and three police mobiles torched. Three banks and a number of shops looted and two police stations attacked by angry mobs. It will happen again because fanatics and bigots in the West will not give up provoking Muslims by attacking what to us is holy.
Although the pattern of violent protest was just like it is in the case of a political or ethnic issue, or even in riots against power outage and lack of water supply, to categorise what happened last Friday week as just another round of mob mischief is to think in cliches. There was a difference.
This violence was turned inward, upon ourselves. We damaged our property, killed ourselves, looted our money, set fire to our buildings. The protest was against people in America and France, but we hurt ourselves. It is a reaction of helplessness. It is well-known and happens, or has happened, in all parts of the globe. In America for instance, during the African American civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King. Blacks burnt their own homes, killed their own people, looted their own shops. The same thing happened in Ireland and South Africa. I do not know what is the psychology but it is a human reaction, an expression of helplessness when one cannot approach the real object of anger and cause it hurt.
Muslims throughout the world protested and in most countries the protesters turned violent, damaging their own country. It is rediculous to stay calm when what is most dear to you is attacked. Is there a Muslim who is not angry? I am not justifying arson, looting and murder, I am simply attempting to understand it and may be help you understand it, because there is need for realistic solutions based on reason.
The West claims the film and sketches reflect freedom of speech. Really? I would like to hear them propound this excuse if a hate film was made against Semitic sentiments. Nowadays throughout the world trouble-mongers are derisive about people's religious sentiments, trouble-mongers attack religious sentiments to provoke violence. We are guilty too, even though we have not made hate films or insulting cartoons that are anti-Christian and anti-Hindu. So there is sound reason why the United Nations should pass a law to prevent anti-religion expressions in any form.
America is forever asking Pakistan to do more to eradicate terrorist. In the anti-Islam film all President Obama and the Secretary of State Mrs Clinton said was that they are not responsible and the USA is tolerant to all ethnic and religion sentiments. But that is not enough, they should do more than distancing the government from the fellow who made the hate-film.
KP Minister for Railways, Bilour, being a politician should not have offered a bounty for the dastardly film maker. But I confess (and I think you do too) that metaphorically all of us want to destroy that fellow. I think the whole affair of Bilour's bounty offer and invitation to Taliban 'brothers' should be forgotten. It was politically incorrect, but, hey, we are still trying to learn how to behave democratically and speak diplomatically.
We have had a kind of rough and ready democracy since over a decade, and though the oldies are still in the dictorial mental frame, young Pakistanis, nurtured in this relatively cleaner atmosphere, are a different breed. They are thinkers and have a sense of responsibility and consciousness of their civic duty.
Students in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad were seen on Sunday cleaning up the streets, trying to erase memories of the destruction to public and private property and to the roads, caused by the riots on Friday week. It was a small symbolic gesture that showed young people cared and owned their cities.
Their gesture had a sobering effect on older citizens who prefer to complain, to be judgemental, but do nothing to solve the civic problems. Nobody told the young to clean up the streets. It was a spontaneous gesture. Older citizens distance themselves, the young took responsibility. Cities always lead and I can see a healthy attitude developing in this country, thanks to young Pakistanis.
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