Soul Atrophy

“…our laws make law impossible; our liberties destroy all freedom; our property is organized robbery; our morality is an impudent hypocrisy, our wisdom is administered by inexperienced or malexperienced dupes, our power wielded by cowards and weaklings, and our honor false in all its points.” So wrote George Bernard Shaw in 1944. He was, I guess, protesting against the existing order at that time; but the statement can be an uncanny indictment of what we are faced with in this country.

It was sheer disappointment to see the disgraceful capitulation of our cricket team in the fourth one dayer against South Africa. It was sheer slothfulness pitted against sheer energy and zest; our boys listlessly progressed to their defeat in a hypnotic manner. Where has the energy gone? Is there a dearth of talent? They can play as individuals on a lucky day just like they did in the 3rd ODI but as a wining team they will fail to perform. The reason is teams in any sport can be as good or as bad as the countries, societies and institutions they represent. The spectator who faced Afridi’s bat should be thanking God that he escaped with a warning. You can ask your self what was he thinking for God sake; forbearance, tolerance, professionalism, ever heard of them Mr. Afridi? He has never been to the National Cricket Academy I suppose, at least not after it was restructured. A full article would not even come close to describing the absurd antics of Shoaib Akhtar, in his individual capacity and vis a vis the PCB. Where do these people come from? Where did they get their basic education and training? The character of the society is the character of the team, the difference between the two teams transcends the teams in the arena, and that was ever so discernible in the match on Sunday.

It is not even funny when we come to know that the PCB closed down the National Cricket Academy for more than a year to restructure it. Half of the public sector is under some kind of restructuring at one time or the other; they should seek guidance from the PCB on how to restructure since they have been brainless enough to stay open for business while attempting to change for the better. Shut down operations and restructure, this is definitely a new concept, may be the private sector can also benefit from their good advice since they are the ones facing the pressure to change all the time? Teams and the organizations managing the teams are run by professional people every where these days but the PCB remains the class act that it has always been, the only thing it is good at is ensuring less than optimal exploitation of talent that manages to come forth in the face of extreme odds. Whenever we have won we have done through individual excellence that carried the team home. There should be no illusions about what we will do in the West Indies.

This society, being the conformist entity that it is will not tolerate dissent, opposition; we are against any one who does not think like us. It has to be what I believe to be true. No one can dare disagree on religious/ethical issues. No wonder Muhammad Yousaf is performing consistently because he is now at peace with himself and more so with his team mates; a classic case of what mental security can do to a person. Nothing meaningful, much less knowledge can grow in a society where there is no diversity of opinion, no right to disagree on merits or otherwise and where hypocrisy is a sure means to positions, patronage and power, imagine the character that grows out of such a culture. As a Muslim Society we despise both modern knowledge and reason. All of the sections of our society would like others to become like them, imagine the mind set of any minority amongst us.

And yes there is a bull in the Office; what are we going to do about angry students of the Madrassah in Lal Masjid Islamabad who challenge the authority of the State while they are in illegal occupation of public property (that happens to be a library but who cares, that is not a concern). The logic is as twisted as its way of expression. All land on Earth belongs to Allah so any part of it can be used to make grotesque fortresses in the name Islam. What about encroachment, property rights and law of the land? What gives them the confidence that they can put forth and enforce such a claim on public property? Probably it is the sense of moral righteousness, albeit misplaced, - some thing the Government might need to search for in the cupboard chock-full of skeletons. It is time to realize that all these madrassahs operating, hitherto unchecked, in the Capital are a real and present security threat with thousands of students who will have no real education and only filtered knowledge of the outside world; how hard would it be for them to take over important establishments here, they have the guns along with, guess what, the force of religion with them and they really believe in what they do and want to achieve. This may seem a bit chimerical but the Lal Masjid Scenario supports this view of what might happen. This is what one gets after decades of neglect in terms of ignoring the social obligation of the State and breeding politics of division and hate. Now the chickens are coming home to roost. As the Economist put it in its country report on Pakistan,” the future looks bearded.”

What is the strength of our society, if one would start defining that? What do we offer to the outside world as a nation and as a country? Where are the pivots of our society that hold the core together? Why India is not under a great deal of pressure to talk us to settle the outstanding issues? What enables them to ward off any pressure that may come their way from the West in this regard? Why have the Muslims, at large, as a people become such underlings without power and influence?

The worst of crimes a society can commit is to tolerate poverty- both physical and intellectual. Freedom of discussion on the media, though, truly great in its concept, would not be a great service to the society and our future if analysis is not translated into recommendations and action where it may be most required. Only then can we fend off the soul atrophy that is slowly creeping into our society.