02/04/2024
Awards on March 23 – Moment for Celebration or to Ponder?
By: Rubina Faisal
Translated from Urdu by: Javed Chaudry
When we think of the societal changes in a country, we don’t mean ostentatious changes but spiritual and ideological changes that can bring about a revolutionary way of thinking, raising the level of conscious awareness. Why is it so hard to bring about such a revolution in Pakistan? The masses are not in control of their own volition, as the collective consciousness has not gained the required degree of confidence and maturity. They may be hard when judging other’s morality, but when it comes to serving their own interests, no matter how minor, they take exception to moral obligation. Such factors do not allow the cultivation of collective consciousness.
Receiving medals is normally a proud moment for the recipients, but receiving medals from an unlawful government and illegal president supports my claim that the conscience of our nation is more or less dead.
The general elections of February 8, and the subsequent formation of the unlawful government and the parliament by rigging the election results cannot be acceptable to any responsible and thinking person. The illegal parliament has appointed the president who is more shameless than a common thief and a thug. The unlawful government formed on a stolen mandate is a black spot on the face of Pakistan. Accepting rewards from such a government amounts to the acceptance and recognition of the unlawful government.
The awarding of the medals on March 23 has openly indicated an exercise in well-organized cronyism. One can understand that those who were part of the waging the fascism would gladly accept those medals as birds of feathers flock together. It makes me sad to observe many of those who had no part in the illegal government, nor did they approve of the unlawful government, still did not hesitate in accepting the medals from this government. By accepting the rewards they affirm that they fully recognize the illegal government.
The well-known Pakistani Satirist and short story writer, Saadat Hasan Manto once said, “My saddened heart trembles with the thought that in a pleasing disposition, this unpredictable government might tag a medal to my coffin”. The French philosopher and novelist, Jean-Paul Sartre refused to accept the 1964 Noble Prize in Literary Arts, saying that he did not want to get entangled in bureaucracy that may cause impediments in the way of his free and independent writings.
I don’t mean to impose it on everyone to hold those higher moral standards as the two writers mentioned above, but I do expect everyone to have the moral courage to avoid deliberate participation in some illegal process or wrongdoings. The Islamic philosophy also holds that if one cannot stop some crime by force, then one should express one’s feelings vocally to oppose the wrongdoings. In case, that is not possible, at a minimum, one must avoid encouraging the perpetrators by accepting any rewards or awards from them as it indicates that one has recognized the criminals as the proper and legal authorities. Often awards are given to buy people off.
It would be rather peculiar if one could ask all those recipients of the awards whether they approve of what has transpired during the last two years in Pakistan. Do they think what happened during this period, was lawful, democratic, and within the acceptable limits of civilized norms? If not, how could they accept rewards from such a government?
The award of Quid-e-Azam medal to the Canadian member of parliament, Salma Zahid, raises several questions. When the award was being given to her, there was a commentary running in the background stating that she had been a strong voice against the excesses of cruelty, oppression, and tyranny of the Palestinians in Palestine and the Kashmiris in Indian-occupied Kashmir. It gives rise to the question of what good is such a voice that is raised for the people of faraway places while turning a blind eye to the oppression and fascism being waged on people of our own country by its fascist government. Even our religion, Islam requires that charity begins at home. By accepting this award, the member of parliament, Salma Zahid has weakened the voice of Canadian Pakistanis against the oppression and fascism being waged on the people under the current Pakistani government. By doing so, she has implicitly approved the fascist Pakistani government.
What’s more surprising is that being a member of parliament, Salma Zahid is directly connected with the Canadian political system and she can understand the subtleties of politics better than ordinary citizens. Who would know about democracy, human rights, and the supremacy of law and order better than her? Despite being a parliamentarian in Canada, she seems to have accepted, without raising an eyebrow, the Pakistani government’s undemocratic, unlawful, and oppressive practices. This signifies that the consciousness of our people will remain half-dead for centuries to come. This means; they will happily overlook all sorts of tyrannies where they have some personal gain, but they will keep raising the morality bars for others. To me, the reason for the lack of our national advancement appears to be that we may have accepted the Sharif family’s beliefs, “That’s what happens in Pakistan, and that’s how it's done.”
When we chant slogans or pray for change, it seems, perhaps, a part of us wishes against the acceptance of our prayers, deep inside we want to keep the status quo. When actress Nargis returned from the Hajj, on a stage play, actor Mustana jokingly commented about Nargis, “During her prayers wishing for spiritual improvement, a part of Nargis must have been wishing against such a request coming true because a noble Nargis won't be any good in her stage acting business”. The rest of us are also in the same predicament. When we wish for a change from the present disorder, a part of us may be wishing for no change or else we may lose many perks and illegal ways to rise. It seems, God ignores our overt gestures and goes by our real inner intents and keeps us the way we are, by saying, “Take your Pakistan as is, and get lost”.
For the brainwashing of the overseas Pakistanis, we have here a noble Pakistani government servant Ms. Arifah Zahra, and occasionally government touts like Javed Chowdry and Waraich are sent. Now that overseas Pakistanis have completely rejected the illegal Pakistani government, it has now started obliging the local Pakistani Canadian politicians by giving them awards hoping to gain some acceptability. Alas, someone could inform MP Salma Zahid that, by accepting the award from the illegal government of Pakistan, she has only harmed her political stature, it has not provided her with any real political benefit.
While we, the Pakistani Canadians are protesting against the tyranny of the oppressive and fascist Pakistani government that has stolen the public mandate and we are trying to reach our local MPs via e-mail, our Pakistani Canadian member of the Canadian parliament turns her back on us and gleefully accepts an award from an illegal and unlawful government. What a shame.
I am surprised about those who know Fulwell about the regime change and the consequences, and they have been part of protests against it, and yet, they are congratulating MP Salma Zahid on receiving the award. Does this mean that personal relationships and interests take precedence? What happened to the moral uprightness and the collective national interests?
If moral values are to be discarded, why protest against the oppression and fascism that is being waged in Pakistan? The Canadian-Pakistani community might as well express heartfelt congratulations to the MP for receiving a medal from the illegal government. This will of course provide blanket approval for all the cruelty to innocent detainees, offensive treatment of women and children, martyrdom of Arshad Sharif and Zillay Shah, vilification, and assassination attempts on the leader who stood up for the public. After having accepted all this happily, be proud, this is the way the Pakistani cookie crumbles.
The US Deputy Secretary of South Asian Affairs, Donal Lu was recently summoned to attend a hearing held by the Congressional Committee for Foreign Affairs in Washington DC. This was considered an event of some historic importance. It’s common knowledge that this event took place as the result of efforts by Pakistani Americans who have been protesting and raising their voice against fascism, lawlessness, the worst kind of stomping, and violations of the human rights of men, women, and children by the Pakistani government. According to Moeed Pirzada, it was an indication that the Pakistani Americans had awakened from a deep sleep.
About 10-15 Congressmen took part in this hearing but only two of them, from Texas, asked tough and probing questions making Donal Lu vulnerable. Donald Lu admitted that the Pakistani election was rigged. Despite several questions on the Cipher, nothing tangible came out on this matter. Why did the rest of the Congressmen not ask probing questions? They only wasted time at the hearing. For the last 50 years, the Pakistani Embassy in the US and the local politicians have been making fools out of the Pakistani diaspora. The Pakistani American community has assisted the congressmen in electoral fundraising and yet everyone did not play their cards effectively at this hearing except two of them. It's not enough that the Pakistani diaspora should be satisfied only with the picture of the children taken with the Congressmen. Getting through the political viewpoint is essential.
Pakistani American community now has an agenda: Apart from supporting Imran Khan and PTI, they now have one identity, one volition.
In short, wherever overseas Pakistanis are present around the world, they must raise their voice against fascism, and the humiliation and harassment of men, women, and children that has gone on in Pakistan during the last two years after the regime change. The fascism is still going on in Pakistan, stubbornly with full shamelessness. It is completely unacceptable.
