Selective amnesia
By Masood Hasan
I think it was last summer when I wrote a column in this newspaper about how we had created conditions that had forced many Christian families, particularly the Anglo-Indians to seek their luck elsewhere. Many had migrated to the UK, the US, Australia, Canada and other far-flung parts of the world. Since then, most have done reasonably well and come to some sort of acceptance of having de-linked themselves from the motherland.
In the same column I had lamented that their departure over many years had left a gaping hole in our lives because they were not pieces of wood but a vibrant and happy-go-lucky community which brought its distinctive and merry culture in whatever it did and made us aware of the simple joy of living. Their purses may have been small, but their hearts were generous and welcoming.
Most columnists will bear this out – other than the ones who have massive egos and would consider this nothing short of heresy – that our writings churned out every week painstakingly and with nauseating punctuality have cumulatively little or no effect on the many subjects we write about. Talk of changing the world, we cannot even persuade people to change socks. So you can understand my bewilderment when I was inundated by emails from all corners of the world, hardly had the column been published. In a few weeks these had run well past 600 and continued for almost a year. Most were heartbreaking. Either very old people still reminiscing about their lives in various parts of Pakistan, or the very young brought up on stories of another time – yet all homesick after all these years and still in fervent love with the country they had to leave.
Not one email had anything bad to say about Pakistan and almost all were written by people choking with emotions – you could feel the tears in what they wrote from the very core of their beings. I was flummoxed. Dozens of clubs and organisations contacted me and told me that the column had been read to their members and had moved many to the verge of tears. An old lady, well over 80, said nothing could ever take her Lahore from her and virtually every single email said the same thing – pure and spontaneous love for the city they had left behind. “I will always love Pakistan,” many said. “It’s been decades but I dream of my life there.” Many wrote and said that their parents or siblings could never ever stop talking about ‘the good old days,’ and that ‘great country’ and ‘wonderful life’. We didn’t shed a tear when the Anglos left. That’s us!
The Christians have been at the receiving end of bigotry for decades. The Anglos, who lived in some isolation and were thus often spared the abuse and ugly remarks, were lucky. So were the many Indian Christians, many of whom hailed from well-established and respected families and were not Anglos. In fact they were hardly the type who would frequent night clubs and dance sessions, being far more conservative by nature and upbringing. That left the lower classes – servants, drivers, sweepers and cleaners referred to by most Pakistanis as ‘chooras,’ a remark as racist as it can get.
They, being ‘people of the book’, are always conveniently ignored if it suits the Muslim majority but used with full so-called respect when things are otherwise. Burning of churches has been going on for decades ever since we discovered we were not going to be either caught or, God forbid, punished. So has been the case with arson and looting of places of worship, homes, schools and centres of learning.
Because we are past masters at hypocritical behaviour, we don’t protest at all. If we do, it is feebly and apologetically. Most people are afraid of the bigots and none of us wishes to be too vocal in the defence of the Christians, fearing that as so-labelled ‘supporters’ we too could be taught a lesson by the brigades of evil people who wear the armour of the righteous and are fired by the holy spirit. A friend said to me that, whatever else happens, the evil genie that Ziaul Haq let loose will never go back into the bottle. He added that no leader, present or future, would have the courage to strike off these laws.
The blasphemy charges that have come to light are, more often than not, just deplorable means to settle scores over such petty things as property feuds, money matters or plain mischief. You cannot reason with a mob gone hysterical and the real culprits know this too well. And it is no longer news that those who register cases of blasphemy are then nowhere to be found, gone without a trace. This is what happened in Badami Bagh and countless other places.
As for the laughable law and order forces, if they are present at the scene, they simply disappear. If they are desperately summoned for help, they take their own sweet time, often showing up when all that remains is smouldering ruins. If there are still mobs looting and committing arson, the police have a temporary fit of blindness. The media – which always shows up – dutifully records yet another gory and grisly drama. As for the rulers, into whose clutches we are thrust, they only arrive when the coast is clear and the last arsonist has ambled off. Then, putting on faces of great piety, goodwill to all mankind and deep felt grief and regret, they hang awhile and sail away into the sunset. Before they do that, they commit yet another deplorable act – the well-scripted cash announcement for the affectees, adding insult to injury.
Of all the unacceptable things, this must rank as the most thoughtless gesture – and insulting to the poor who have already been killed, maimed or robbed. This award thing is of course the much established and done thing when such tragedies (for some) occur because what it looks like is putting a price on a human life and then paying it off. Your obligations are over. What remains is muttering such inane nonsense as ‘no one will be allowed to play with the lives of the people.’ Or ‘no one is above the law,’ or the equally hideous, ‘the miscreants will be brought to book’ whatever that bit of nonsense means. All this is in stark contrast to the ground reality.
The criminals of the land, who multiply at an alarming rate even as we speak, will play with the lives of the people – particularly those who have no support-clout system to save themselves. Everyone and his uncle is now above the law and so deep down below has the law fallen that it is not even visible and fear not, no miscreant will ever be brought to book. It’s an exercise of shameful behaviour. Yes, those who have lost everything can do with some monetary help but why try and get some brownie points? Can’t you do it discreetly? Haven’t the poor souls paid enough already? The Joseph Colony culprits will never be brought to justice – it’s all a scam. The poor Christians would have fled long ago except they just can’t; they are our slaves and at our mercy.
And to think that not too long ago, the brute Muslim majority of this hopeless land were a minority too! They have had a very convenient time with selective amnesia.
The writer is a Lahore-based columnist. Email:
masoodhasan66@gmail.com