Fortress Pakistan

Time was when hedges or four-foot walls demarcated the boundaries of all kind of premises in the country –including those of defence establishments. In fact (and this would sound unbelievable) you could literally take short-cuts, while walking, through some defence establishments and nobody batted an eyelid. The thought of building high walls or raising barriers never crossed anybody’s mind. There was no need to. You could literally go anywhere you wanted and nobody bothered or asked you, and if they did it was perfunctory. While walking, cycling or occasionally driving, you could see families in the courtyards of their homes enjoying themselves and children playing about with nary a care in the world. Days of innocence and contentment they were.

Now all that is a thing of the past and a fortress mentality rules our world. The country bristles with security apparatuses –higher and higher walls, barbed wire, barriers, walkthrough gates, CCTVs, scanners, jammers, security checks, layers upon layers of guards, armoured vehicles, houses turned into fortresses, restrictions of all kinds and what not –and yet fear persists. Parents are on a hair-trigger alert ready to make a beeline for schools at the slightest hint of trouble. The days of innocence are gone –forever.

Farid Nawaz

Islamabad