“Life is a long chain of miscalculations, apply this to Pakistan and you would be super relax”.

 This tweet, by a friend and the owner of this virtual space, Tahir Ahmad Bhatti, instead of relaxing, further exacerbated my anxiety rather with no letup in sight given to the prevailing ambience of hatred and antagonism back in the country so dear to us all against the fellow countrymen who only differ in faith, yes only faith. It seems God has decided to destroy us all owing to our madness as a nation, the culmination of which was yet again on display umpteenth times in the recent episode of occupying a Christian chapel in a hospital in Pakistan and demanding Christian nurses to proselyte or else face the thunder of the biggest all-weather time tested weapon in our arsenal which never has missed the target, yes the Khatm e Nubuwat card. It is conspicuous by the events that the wheel of fate has turned against us and ruination is now only a matter of time.  

There is no call for to drop a line how humanity, valuable human emotions and heart touching hopes are defiled and profaned in Pakistan against minorities, but when repression and oppression not only becomes the order of the day but also is carried out for personal gains in the name of the soul who is profoundly and rightfully esteemed as the “Mercy for all the worlds”, then mind and sense get caught up in an inexplicable rage and suffocation that the vastness of earth and the enormousness of skies and grandness of oceans become constrict and one feels chocked even in an open ambiance. The whole life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is a rainbow of mercy and tolerance which will be illuminating all the corners until Kingdom Comes with its light and colors but who will in these darkest hours instill this light in the darkest minds remains a question. Dozens of examples from the holy life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) can be cited amplifying his whims for the co-existence of different faiths, but alas those pretending to be his followers are in fact acting in full contrast to his teaching.   

This country of ours, right after the inception, got entangled in a labyrinth of bigotry and deliberately an environment was manufactured which proffered the prospect of prosperity to only those who were base and vile. Those who dubbed Jinnah, who profoundly and distinctly pronounced the religion not the business of the state but an individual’s personal affiliation, an infidel are now elaborating his words and those who labeled Pakistan the land of impure are now ruling the roost in the same land whereas the ones who were an avant-garde in the struggle of a separate homeland are now facing the wrath of persecution and injustice. All this strengthens the notion that in this world one must not expect any reward that in this world there is neither honor nor justice. In this world one must be cunning and wicked.

Perhaps sanity, a supreme bliss, is not granted to us in this world and a slightest endeavor to acquire this cannot be discovered in our national actions for sure. We embarked on receding to the fundamentalist demands in the mid 70s and after that there is no stop, the decline of state affairs is no secret since then. The more they are given the more they want and this latest heinous act will neither satiate them nor it will be the last one. Given the history, apparently these morons create an environment posing for the glorification of their faith, but in fact it is a no loss business for which they do marketing and which has been providing sustenance to a large chunk of radicals and sectarians for years. If we intend to burn these few alive, then say so, but if it is by accident which does not seem to be the case, then we should let them remind us of their presence. It must be admitted that the years of pogrom and abuse of the few at the hands of the state sponsored groups have not dented their resolve and staunchness to their faith but have completely shaken the foundation of the state.

Why has it become difficult for us to recognize that there is an infinite variety of human minds, which means that no truth is perceived identically by any two people? Why are we imposing our understanding of religion on those who understand it differently? There is no rocket science to fathom the impossibility of the existence of a pluralistic society, which we are, if it is forcibly confined to follow the dictates of a myopic single group.Just like the movement of the clock, the movement of fate is likewise inexorable and such aforementioned actions by society are enough to substantiate that the wheel of fate has started spinning against us. For years the efforts for self-immolation have finally brought us closer to it and it scares keeping in mind the prevailing gloom and doom and the state of affairs that now nothing can pull us back. We are sinking deeper and deeper in the quagmire which is of our own making and the country seems to be like a foundling in the clutches of a cruel opportunist. The road we are treading fast leads to perdition, now, one can only weep for the past happiness that is beyond recovery and for the impossibility of a future happiness.