Man is a complex creature, and its behaviour has spread over a prominent spectrum from the kindhearted to the most venomous. Such variations tell that human behaviour is not static rather than contingent. It may imply that human society is the outcome of ideas, ideals, values, and feelings of the people living there, which, in turn, provide social bonding, shape human behaviour and make social and political institutions in their ways. One of these human attributes is called empathy and, it takes center stage towards the positive development of society by extension, state. It can be said, one’s ability to stand in someone else’s shoes and see the world through their eyes. Simply empathy may also mean respect for human rights.
The concept of empathy is developed against its antonyms i.e. insensitivity, indifference, selfishness. In its real-world manifestation, empathy is not limited to an issue at any given point in time. Preferably, it may serve as a defining ground for the overall behaviour of a society. Socially, the concept of empathy subscribes to ideas like social inclusiveness, togetherness, sensitivity, care, and compassion toward others in terms of their feelings, intentions, emotions, values, and needs.
A healthy, happy and contended society holds empathy as a self-evident truth and a guiding principle in its overall approach toward life. Accordingly, the route to a great nation can only be met by exhibiting the humane values of an exceptional standard. Throughout human history, empathy has served as a breeding ground for social and political change. Against this pretext, social and political leaders mobilised millions of people and ended up achieving milestones. Countries that stick themselves to such lofty values became home to greatness and, when they lose these ideals, they witness disgrace and downfall. It is also telling that social values and political system coincide with each other and enjoy symbiotic relations. To put it differently, the kind of ethos a society holds has a direct effect on the political system and vice versa.
With the foregoing context, the seventy-three-years abundant narrative of Pakistan is easy to comprehend. Recorded accounts of the partition of the Indian subcontinent maintain the moral does of the people involved. Leaders of the subcontinent, Jinnah, and Gandhi claimed independent states on ethical grounds, which, in turn, not only gathered mass support and social mobility for the cause but also compelled the British Empire to decolonize India on moral grounds. The occurrence of Pakistan and Indian independence stemmed from the empathic response of the actors involved. The Pakistan movement was a call for respect for human rights and, people were extremely self-motivated in that regard. It is evident from history that a vast majority of people on both sides of the boundary line subscribed to greater empathy and moral obligation for the migrants coming from the opposite sides. In the early years of the republic, people of Pakistan, in their respective capacities, were working passionately and tirelessly to realize the Jinnah’s dream of Pakistan and to offer a free county to their future generations.
At the time of its inception, Jinnah laid down the basic framework for the new republic, based on his broader understanding of human rights, as evident from his post-independence speeches. He stressed equal rights for all citizens regardless of their racial, ethnic, and religious origins. He demanded safety and prosperity, health, and education for all, as well as an accountable, corruption-free, empathetic, and responsible government. The feelings of togetherness, compassion, care, and nationhood triggered by Jinnah and other leaders at the time of the Pakistan movement had to be perceived once freedom prevailed. Leaders and the people of Pakistan were quite optimistic and excited over the healthy future of the state and, they were more than ready to share the collective responsibility and cooperate in the hard times. They were hopeful that the dispensing of people's rights in an empathic social and political environment would deliver the promise but, it fractured by the drastic changes at the state level.
Most people would agree that the political state of the country affairs drastically changed after the unfortunate demise of Jinnah. Pakistan’s political dynamics appeared to be contemptuous to founding fathers' empathetic vision as well as the commitment of all those who sacrificed everything for the brighter tomorrow of their fellow countrymen and better future of the next generations. Their objectives of achieving a social democratic republic and a healthy and prosperous society drifted toward an ominous environment and, his dream of a social welfare state soured. Shortly after Jinnah's demise, an opposite discourse began to surface. The country moved to so-called Islamisation. Likewise, a new narrative was launched to malign civilian capacity to rule, and soon it set the stage for a sharply divided society enabling a long-term dictatorial form of government. These developments had cast a shadow on individuals, society, and the state of Pakistan.
The new system proved to be horrible for the state of human rights in the country. To practice the colonial tool of power ‘divide and rule,’ the non-democratic forces ruthlessly divided the society along religious, ethnic, and nationalist lines. These cleavages helped non-democratic forces, stay in power for decades, and multiplied relative deprivation and frustration in the land. These non-democratic demigods decimated civilian rules and democratic institutions by bashing them as incapable and unfit to run the country. As a result, a dramatic change erupted and, it engulfed the whole society. The new environment swept the feelings of togetherness, care, and compassion away and replaced them by fear, fanaticism, greediness, selfishness, and overt materialism. Society got divided into haves and have not’s, elite and working class, powerful and marginalized, and so on. Likewise, state institutions became stagnant, where people were reflecting the same social mindset. Some of these institutions become overly powerful, while others were powerless. Lawlessness and inadequate governance, crimes, hunger, poverty, illiteracy, corruption, poor health conditions, and the absence of other primary rights loomed large in the country. In a nutshell, over time, our society lost its instinct of civility, dignity, empathy and, it continues to date.
Today, if we look around in our society, with rare exceptions, almost everyone has become a competitor to others and busy in the cutthroat rational calculation of self-interest. Consequently, unwilling to extend the hand of friendship and compassion in society. The net result of such an approach to social life is that the individual has become indifferent to collective concerns of the community. Sadly, we are a divided nation, and bringing back empathy seems to be the only solution. We are on the brink of further dismemberment. For instance, if we turn on the news television, there is hardly anything positive rather heartbreaking and horrible news pop up all the time, it is as if we have lost all our humanity.
Bending back to contemporary challenges, our critical mass is rightly worried about the state of the economy and material conditions of Pakistan. However, it can be argued that what is our real deficit, our real crisis? Is it ethical or material? There can be no universal answer to such questions due to underlying doctrinal hitches. A position maintained above tends to substantiate that it is an ethical crisis that generates all other social and political catastrophes. Norms of a democratic society sharply diverge from non-democratic society. An empathetic society corroborates with the social welfare system where the state becomes a duty bearer and guarantor of human rights. Likewise, it produces socially healthy individuals and their harmonious relations with one another. A society marked by respect for human rights and empathy can never be defeated by any crisis at any level. Great social ethos, values, and norms create great nations and states that can face any obstacle, be it material or otherwise.
Categorically, Pakistan is facing grave challenges at all levels as individual, society, state, and international. This independence demands us to revisit our approach and self-reflect. What have we become in the past seventy-three years? Where do we stand as compared to other nations? Should we be worried about our present state of affairs? If yes, then what is our way forward? Perhaps, we need to bring back the vision of Quaid-i-Azam in its right place. We need to bring back human rights, feelings of togetherness, care, compassion, and empathy at individual, society, and state levels. We need to give confidence to all people that they matter in the state of Pakistan regardless of any difference. Finally, these values may get grounds in a social-democratic political environment where the social and institutional values and practices converge and where a gain of one is gain for all and loss of one is a loss for all. Once done, it may get us out of all our crises and bring our civility and dignity back home. To conclude, we need an empathy revolution in our society to glue the broken pieces of our humanity and, we need a state that guarantees equal human rights to its all citizens without any prejudice and distinction.
-The writer teachers International Relations at Iqra University, Islamabad Campus.
He can be reached at tasawar.hussain@iqraisb.edu.pk
