Bilawal talks the talk and in environment like ours and the
context in which he physically exists, its no small feat. He has to do better
than just wax poetic here however. Heads must roll and not at a district level
either. He must take on the likes of qayim ali shah and agha siraj durrani’, if
bilawal is to champion the cause of a true socialistic reform. What has
transpired in THAR is not a surprise. At least not for folks who are familiar
with provincial PPP leadership cadre in sind. They mostly hail from rural areas
and comprise of have’ and quite frankly have no stake or even pressure to
change the subhuman conditions of rural SIND. Fahd Hussein of Tribune have
recently written an extremely powerful piece and a nobody like me would not
want to top up on what he has already eloquently laid out.
What I would like to focus on here is the disparity of human
condition in rural areas of our country compared to urban centers of Pakistan.
Now given that urban centers are no Norway either but there is a stark
difference on the quality of life for those who don’t belong to the landlord
class. I am not necessarily arguing here that more resources need to be
invested in rural areas. Although more money would obviously help but my larger
point is that resources which are already allocated are criminally absconded by
the elite of the area in a manner which seems untouchable, beyond the reach of law.
And this absolute rape of masses in every sense of the word
of the majority citizenry is consistent thru out the country, across party
lines. Have’ seems to have built the consensus that ‘raiyut’ (masses) are
sub-humans and its not a big deal if their lives and miseries and that of
cattle seems on parallel. A simple drive around (if you are allowed by the
armed thugs of the wadeyra) in any of these villages will highlight the
disparity of conditions of have’ and have not’. What strikes me as a loud-mouth
karachiite is that the 99% have not’ somehow refuse to put 2 and 2 together
that their misfortunes are directly related to the well-being of the sardar of
their area and not necessarily on the bridge built in lallokhayt karachi.
MQM unit in-charge and sector in-charge are titles of fear
thanks to the Punjabi dominated and to some extent biased media, but I can
assure you that no matter how scary MQM gets, there is no way on God’ green
earth that there will be famine like situation in my neighborhood of sharifabad
and nadeem bhai our unit in charge would be living it up in his mansion. If MQM
leadership in 90 or the one in London don’t address transgressions from those
who we entrust with a position of authority, you can rest assured the mob will
take care of it.
And this is my fascination that at what point will the
parents of those 200 dead children in THAR will be able to organize themselves
and set someone on fire whose well being is subsidized by them?
Jis Khait Se Dehqan Ko Mayassar Na ho Rozi
Uss Khait Ke Har Khausha-e- Gandum Ko Jala Do
I don’t mean to sound extreme and I realize that vigilantism
creates chaos but 200 dead children and shazia marri was irked on twitter that
we are blowing this out of proportion? Her surprise and this attitude ‘chill
yo! What is the big deal?’ Got under my skin.
These rural elites whether its ayla malik, isar zehri (does
anyone even remember that he buried 5 women alive?), shahrukh jatoi really do
believe that at a very basic, innate level, at a genetic level they are
superior than the rest of us and therefore their lives should mean more and we
should try to keep the hues and cries of our young un’ dying to a level which
isn’t too grating on their ears. It is this sort of preciousness that should
offend the collective psyche of the nation and something drastic should be done
to send a message.
And when I say nation, I mean those who have the ways and
means to do something about it. Primarily the onus will fall on intellectuals
and the media to shift their focus on rural injustices and bring the conditions
to some level of parity. I assure you that veena malik and meera will still be
here and as controversial as ever when you guys return and TUQ and sheikh
rasheed will still be lackeys of pindi and we can carry on with usual stuff
once the 70% of our citizenry is truly worthy of being called human beings.
Tu
Qadir-o-Aadil hai magar Teray JahaaN mei
HaiN talkh bohat banda-e-mazdooR k auqaat!
