The era of outrage

This refers to the editorial ‘Unnecessary outrage’ (Aug 17). It was absurd to read about NAB’s unfounded concern over Eva Bianka Zubek who was seen dancing with our national flag on Independence Day. And I am glad that the editorial rightly raised concerns over NAB’s involvement. The institution has rightly decided not to pursue the matter since what the girl did was an expression of happiness on our Independence Day. In light of the editorial, I have been musing over four key terms that have become integral part of our national psyche. These are the ideology of Pakistan: national interest, national security and patriotism.

It is rather unfortunate that all these words have been redefined by individual officials, organisations and national institutions to declare those who disagree with ‘one’ official definition of these words as traitors. When our youth present alternative definitions of the above words, alarms are raised as though our youth are distorting their meanings. This is not true. The youth is only questioning the official version of these terms especially when it is used to liberally call opponents traitors. Finally, I couldn’t agree more with the editorial that in Pakistan we definitely need to appreciate what is and what isn’t humor in order to avoid creating unnecessary alarm over future events similar to Zubek’s.

Dr. Zafar I Qureshi

Lahore