Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
No tragedy, be it personal, national, international or political and however shocking and condemnable, must be allowed to become an excuse for actions that result in the loss of life, property or disruption of normal life for three days or more during which large sections of the population remain threatened and under stress for something that they are not even remotely responsible for, nor should it become an instrument for gaining access to the corridors of power. Capitalising on or exploiting tragedies is reprehensible and contemptible, it eventually ends up in tragedy itself - a tragedy that engulfs more innocents in the process.
Each of the over 50 lives lost in the wanton violence that continued for three days in the aftermath of the tragic death of Benazir was as precious as the life for which became the excuse for it being lost. All lives have to have equal premium, otherwise some will always be considered expendable and some as sacred. This has been the real tragedy of this region. Innumerable Sikhs were killed in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi's assassination and the same has happened here.
The families that lost their loved ones in the carnage that followed the assassination of Benazir are as bereaved, distraught and stunned by the loss they have suffered as is the family of Benazir. But it seems that the electronic media and sections of the press have considered only a single death as all important and have mentioned the resulting deaths in the same way that the Western and Israeli governments mention the loss of human lives as 'collateral damage' due to their wanton violence. Such apathy and insensitivity is inexcusable and is a mockery of the dignity of human life. All discussions centred only on a single aspect without raising the larger issues of human suffering that were going on unabated.
Any country that does not and cannot express its grief and anger in a civilised manner has very dim prospects of ever progressing to a state where it may become a civilised country. The people are judged and estimated by their response and reaction to their sorrows, sadness and tragedies. If my expression of sorrow and grief over the death of a political leader requires of me to burn and loot today, what is going to stop me from expressing my personal grief over loss of a dear one in a similar fashion? Imagine everyone here in this country going out on a shooting rampage at the death of a loved one.
This could well become the standard response here for every shocking event that may occur in the country or in our personal lives. This might as well be a standard response because the people know that they live in a geographical entity where no government exists because had there been a government in this place, there would neither have been any loss of life nor the wanton looting and arson witnessed over three long days. This scenario is becoming a palpable possibility after the recent wanton expression of grief by some.
The police that was brave enough to manhandle the lawyers, students and members of civil society in the past couple of weeks disappeared with its tail between its legs when the criminal elements took over the country and committed murders, plunder, looting and arson with impunity over three days. They could not even defend their own thanas, their jails and their weapons, a conduct as pathetic as it was criminal and inexcusable.
The president, governors, the chief ministers, the ministers and the bureaucrats were all ensconced in the safety of their houses guarded by hordes of policemen, and left the people to fend for themselves. They are guilty of gross dereliction of duty and if they have even a grain of shame left in their conscience, they would all resign and go home. But when have they ever considered the well being of the people as a part of their duty? All they have been bothered or concerned about is how long they can stay in power and how much they can benefit from that power.
The state and all its institutions on which so much has been squandered needlessly in the last 60 years have failed the citizenry and they stand indicted of gross dereliction of duty and abject failure of protecting lives and properties of innocents. A state and government that has always bragged about its commitment to the 'writ of the state' farce had its comeuppance in the three days following the assassination. These three days exposed the hollowness, the shallowness and the worthlessness of all the empty braggadocio we have been hearing about our being the 'bulwark of the Ummah' and invincible defences. They stand exposed and indicted of an unforgivable and unpardonable failure in their duty to the people - a failure that the people will never forgive them for.
The country remained hostage to armed psychopaths for three days. Who other then psychopaths would attack the Edhi Centre for Destitute Children and torment and manhandle the disabled children and the staff stationed to look after their needs? Hospitals were ransacked and burnt, what vendetta could anyone have with patients and doctors?
A doctor working on December 27 and two days after it at the NICH in Karachi Jinnah Hospital told me that people came there and removed oxygen masks from the severely ill children with fatal consequences for them. The Rajputana Hospital in Hyderabad was attacked and the psychopaths made their way to the Aga Khan Maternity hospital nearby, but relented only when the guards there begged and pleaded that only children and women were there.
Imagine the plight of those countless passengers who are still stranded at some places in Sindh with no one to cater their needs since their trains were torched. The number of vehicles burnt during these three days is in thousands and most of these vehicles were burnt after being stripped of accessories. Trains, railway bogies and stations were burnt and the service to Sindh remains interrupted. Logs have been felled on roads to hinder traffic in Sindh and roads remain unsafe for travelling. A person had to walk more than 40 kilometres in chilly weather from Tando Adam to Hyderabad after being stranded there due to lack of transport. People have suffered untold miseries due to this massive disruption of traffic all over the country and not a word of sympathy from the government or the political parties.
Banks, factories and even residences were looted and torched in a systemic manner, which showed that all that happened was not entirely spontaneous. The government remained in a stupor for all the time and it was only when nothing much remained to be looted or burnt did they order the Rangers and the Army to take control. One eye-witness told me that Tando Jam, a town near Hyderabad, presented a look of Bosnia during the strife. The populace on the whole in general and in most affected areas in particular were living in a state of terror and fear, as they neither had the means to protect themselves nor were there the police or the Army to ensure their safety.
The monetary cost of trillions that has occurred during arson and looting in these three days may be easy to assess and quantify, but the cost of the damage to the psyche of the people may not be easy to assess and quantify. The people have lost confidence in the ability of the state to protect them from the psychopaths its policies have created and this is a very dangerous development.
An even more dangerous and terrifying aspect of these three days of unrestrained and unhindered mayhem and looting is the boost to the confidence of the elements who committed this pillage and plunder. They will be waiting for another chance at more of the same because they have got away with murder and plunder. They will be better armed and organised when some other event befalls this place. The way this place has been governed and run the occurrence of a similar event is not only a possibility but a certainty. The assassination of another political or a religious leader cannot be ruled out and the way of expressing their anguish and pain by looting and torching with abandon will be re-enacted and once again will be played out, but this time in more sustained and vigorous manner by those who committed crimes against humanity this time around.
The writer has been associated with the Baloch national struggle |
