Blunt Axes!

There was a time when the most frustrating aspect regarding Pakistani society was our indifference and apathy to the tragic circumstances that prevailed in the country. Believe it or not, this attitude is a thing of the past now. The credit may go to the freedom of the media, the limit of our tolerance or sheer chance, but we, as a nation, have emerged from the depths of ignorance and inaction and are now at least prepared to take an interest in what is going on around us and react.

However, this is a slow process. We are in a transition from indifference to proper action and our biggest concern should be to make sure that, unlike a number of other transitions, this one does not become a permanent feature of our national life. We have a habit of hanging in the middle for too long, far too long. We delay the final push towards our destination so much that the transitional phase becomes a permanent one and if and when we do take the final steps, it is mostly too late and our destination no longer serves the purpose. Hence, we continue to move from one transition to another.

Times change too quickly now. We can’t spare too much time to congratulate ourselves, we must move on. New attitudes bring new challenges that need to be faced and tackled in order to get maximum advantage from the current situation. New things have to be learnt, and more importantly, a number of old things have to be unlearnt.

We have acquired a very bad habit of jumping to conclusions without first gaining clarity on a subject and taking on irrelevant burdens on our shoulders, consequently leading to frustrations. 

Some phrases that I have grown to hate over the years are ‘Drawing room Politics’, ‘Drawing room Discussions’ etc. Every other day, I hear things like ‘That is theoretically correct but ground realities are different’ or ‘We must stop discussing and act now’ and I feel a little perturbed by such thoughts. 

I feel the need to explain my views of some of these concepts once and for all.

The term ‘silent majority denotes the group of people who do not express their opinions publicly. However, this group may contain two kinds of people. Those who appear to have no desire to say anything on anything, who appear indifferent and have no realization of the fact that they can, in their own way, contribute towards improving the situation, are the real problem. The other group contains those who have opinions on things which they express amongst their close friends and enter into positive discussions and debates with each other in an effort to decide the best solution to a certain problem and the most useful way in which they can contribute. Such people are a very important asset. They should not be bombarded with insensitive criticism and asked repeatedly to stop talking and start acting. It is the minds, the debates and the drawing rooms of these people that are the potential breeding grounds for ideas, plans and courses that can become the fuel for our national development.

Everyone is not a revolutionary by nature. Yes, we need leaders and followers, we need activists. But much more than that, we need people who generate ideas; ideas about where we need to go, which path can become our salvation. Without a clear direction, the leader and the followers will be mere wanderers. And these ideas can develop in the drawing rooms. 

We, and a number of other nations and individuals, have committed the mistake of jumping without preparation and facing the consequences. We need to gain clarity on a number of things before we can be sure of how to act. So let the active people act, the thinking people think and the drawing room politicians discuss. Let everyone do their own job and hope to utilize the best product of every effort.

One example of our lack of clarity; the operation on Lal Masjid was universally condemned and became one of the major causes of Gen. Musharraf’s downfall. Our ‘civil society’ and ‘intelligentsia’ not only condemned the operation but openly expressed their opinions against it, in the newspapers, in public gatherings and on the streets. The same intelligentsia, though, does not seem to mind the current military operation in N.W.F.P. and some members of this elite group have gone to the extent of appreciating and welcoming the step. 

I fail to understand the difference between the two operations. If anything, the attack on Lal Masjid was better planned since it was a preemptive strike to prevent the possibility of something like what happened in Swat. 

We direly need some people to take on the task of showing us direction. And anyone of us can play that role, provided he has put in all his intellectual resources and come up with a plan. If we need to do something for the country, we must spend most of our time figuring out the best thing to do. Once the plan is in place and there is a will, implementation is the easiest part.

Russian revolution without Marx or the French revolution without Rosseau could not have been possible.

Silent majority is a phrase coined by Richard Nixon, one of the most controversial of American Presidents. Maybe we would be better off learning a thing or two from one of the greatest American Presidents. Abraham Lincoln said “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening my ax”.