A history of slander — Good language vs. bad language
Sometimes it is really tiring to explain the difference between good Taliban (GT) and bad Taliban (BT). It is actually self-explanatory and not so hard to decipher, yet, there are many out there who just can't seem to determine the fact that those fighting for a just cause are good Taliban, and those fighting against us on the behest of foreign powers are bad Taliban.
But, bear in mind that fighting in Afghanistan for a just cause on the behest of Pakistan does not mean the same thing as fighting in Pakistan on the behest of foreign powers.
You see, it all boils down to what cause both are fighting for.
GT clearly have a just cause. Their country is under occupation. So, obviously, blowing up things by them becomes an equally just thing to do; whereas when BT do the same in Pakistan, it is certainly not the same thing. It does not carry the same level of the just burst as the just burst of GT.
Nevertheless, I do not believe one should go to any significant length anymore to explain the difference between GT and BT. It is now quite apparent and should be clearly understood by all and sundry. This debate should come to an end for the well-being and interest of our nation, and the nation of Afghanistan, and (for some odd reason), the Republic of Estonia.
But never underestimate the ploys of those who still want to create confusion about what is good and what is bad. For example, after being defeated in the GT vs. BT debate, these people recently triggered a brand new debate, that of Good Language and Bad Language.
When PML-N legislator, Khawaja Asif, insulted his PTI counterpart, Shireen Mizari, by calling her a tractor trolley, the PTI was understandably outraged.
However, some folks refused to criticise Asif for using bad language against a fellow parliamentarian. Instead they suggested that PTI chairman, Imran Khan, often used such language against PML-N members too.
Again, how conveniently naive of such people not to be able to differentiate between good language and bad. No matter how crude the nature of what is said, the goodness or badness of it depends on what the cause was for it to be said.
Let me explain.
When Imran Khan called Fazalur Rehman 'diesel' or when he informed the nation that the Sharif brothers have wetted their shalwars due to the PTI's revolutionary ways, it was actually good language because it was used for a good cause. The cause being, political, social, psychological, philosophical, agricultural and theological change (tabdeeli) which the PTI is struggling for.
What is Khawaja Asif's cause? Corruption, corruption and more corruption. Thus, his was bad language.
All this should not be so difficult to understand by the PML-N folk. One should remind them that once their members had used crude language which was actually good language too.
Back in the 1990s, the PML-N men had used the filthiest of words against Benazir Bhutto. But that was considered to be good because the cause was just.
The PML-N and its morally upright allies such as the Jamat-i-Islami did not want Benazir's PPP to come to power because she was hell-bent on selling out the Kashmir issue to India, neutralise the good militants in Afghanistan, and, (for some odd reason) transfer Pakistan's expertise of growing superior mangos to the Republic of Bolivia.
And those members of the PPP who are criticising both the PML-N and the PTI for using bad language too should remember how their party's founder, ZA Bhutto, used crude language which was actually good.
In a televised speech in 1973, ZAB called the Bengalis 'swines.' Though his opponents castigated him for this, they failed to understand that this was actually good language because the cause behind it was just.
The Bengalis of former East Pakistan had betrayed the dreams of the country's founder, Muhammad Bin Qasim, and (in 1971), had conspired with Indian leader, Raja Dahir, to breakaway and form their own country. So when ZAB called them swines, his reasons were just and thus, the language was good.
It's all quite simple.
And if any of you still can't get it then you are all "swines who run on diesel and wet your shalwars when you see a tractor trolley".
Source: A history of slander
Published in Dawn, June 10, 2016