You cannot be protected

Security is the upper-most concern in the minds of people right now, especially with schools opening across the country. Attendances have been low, panic levels high; all this is perfectly understandable given the state’s lack of ability to protect its citizens. Confidence in this ability has in fact slumped over the past few weeks, following the Peshawar school attack, even as the government and other parties have attempted to demonstrate their resolve to act against militancy through the National Action Plan and the measures to be taken under it. Few have faith these will work.
There are of course diverse reasons for this. One is the fact that our rulers have been taking up options, well beyond the means of most, to protect their own. ‘First daughter’ Maryam Nawaz recently sent her own daughter off to school in London, stating first that she was not safe even at elite Pakistani schools, and then, possibly on the basis of political advice, that the child’s presence jeopardised the safety of others.
It is clear that those who can think only of themselves. Perhaps they cannot be entirely blamed for this, but then someone needs to think about those people who too seek safety but cannot send their children overseas.
Thinking about these people means doing a lot more than setting up military courts. It means reviewing much about our abilities to stem extremism, and also about specific laws. The recent attack on an Imambargah in Rawalpindi, which killed eight and injured others, was apparently intended to send out a message to the family of Aun Muhammad Rizvi, the former controller news at PTV, who had been gunned down outside his house by motorcyclists in 1999. As the hanging date for the convict in the case approaches, the heirs of the victim have been receiving threats urging them to accept Diyat money. Their refusal to do so led to the bombing of the family Imambargah.
All this of course is rooted in a law that treats murder as a crime against an individual rather than one against the state. This is a fundamental flaw – and we will undoubtedly see the Diyat provision come up again and again, as it already has in cases such as those against Akram Jhangvi, a co-founder of the fiercely sectarian Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and himself responsible for the deaths of dozens of Shias.
This is not a matter of blood-lust. The noose solves no problems. But a just system that punishes those guilty of crime can. It is also alarming that we have extremist outfits still powerful enough to present what is being regarded as a very viable threat to police officers, bureaucrats and our top leadership. At least some within the circles of power believe that the fear of murder is holding back action. This of course is perfectly likely.
We have examples before of police officers such as Chaudhry Aslam, who had bravely combated militants and survived previous attempts on his life but was killed in October 2014 as a result of a Taliban bombing at his Karachi house. He had predicted he would be murdered. Others have been felled just like him. Their death means a blow to the battle against militancy, with a very strong message sent out to others to pull back or face a similar fate. Many, in fact most, opt to do so – for reasons that are easy to understand. Judges face the same predicament, with the fear of a bullet pumped through the head playing a role in verdicts delivered in courts.
Fear then has become the predominant factor in our lives, engulfing and stifling people. This is just one reason for the inaction on the part of authorities. Inefficiency, a lack of commitment and a lack of capability are other factors that work against the people. The impact on lives has been enormous. While our constitution has been tampered with once again and further mutilated in the process, people feel even less safe within the state they live in. They recognise of course that beyond rhetoric, it has little to offer them.
The situation we face is frightening. Our society is now more brutalised than ever before. The fear, combined with an almost surreal but terrifying view of the world adopted even by small children, should make us all think hard. Children have been heard discussing how they would act in the event of an attack.
An 11-year-old suggested, apparently quite matter-of-factly, that he would spill red ink on his shirt and pretend he had already been shot. Parents have advised their kids to ‘play dead’ in the event of any attack. This is not a normal state of affairs. It is true the threat is there; it has been there for a very long time – we have now seen it laid out before us in the open.
The state and the media are not helping by creating a further sense of terror. The media continues to speak of terrorists lurking around virtually every corner. By abdicating responsibility for security to private institutions, including schools, the message from the state and government is clear: we cannot protect you, so protect yourselves. This in itself has created a kind of hysteria everywhere and multiplied the scale of fear many thousands of times. The work of terrorists is being done for them by others.
The long-term impact of all this has to be assessed. We are creating a society within which there is increasingly little sense of ordinary day-to-day activity. There is also a greater divide between members within it – those who can afford to hire private guards and use bullet-proof cars, and others are left unprotected. People seriously talk of homeschooling children; many refuse to venture out anywhere at all and few believe anything has really been done to make their lives safer. All this is a result of our own inaction over many years. What we do now will be crucial for our future.
This is a future we need to build carefully. Right now, many are casting doubts over the question of whether we have one at all. The point is that we do. We must. People everywhere in the country need to see this future and not hide behind a veil of fog made up of fear and uncertainty. This is what is happening right now. There was been no serious attempt to drive away the fog. As a result, our vision has become more and more limited.
Everyone thinks for themselves rather than collectively as a nation. Yet this collective thinking is vital to save us all and also to put in place a scenario where security can truly be looked at. There are means to do this: mohalla committees, the incorporating of mosque prayer leaders in the effort, involving residential communities and setting up patrols where required are all part of this. Of course, this has to be carefully done to avoid further chaos.
The main role must still be played by the government and its intelligence and security agencies. But we need to move forward and find some way to step out of the clouds that entrap us.
The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.
Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com