INSAF MEDIA CELL Analysis Brief of Print Media Tuesday June 25, 2013 Article > The News > The full bloom and the tear > Zafar Hilaly Events of the past few days have magnified the frustration and resigned discontent that grips Pakistan. People worry the fragile and unsafe superstructure of the state is falling apart. As law and order worsens, the dwindling spirit of national solidarity is undermining the country’s unity. The elections were supposed to strengthen democracy in Pakistan. In a sense they did, but in another sense they were a hammer blow to national unity. The Sindhi voted for the Sindh party; the Punjabi for a Punjab party and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a putative Pakhtun leading the PTI. (Balochistan, effectively, did not vote). Province not merit, provenance not manifesto were the electorate’s criteria. So, to reiterate, while the elections showed democracy in full bloom, Pakistan’s unity – already fraying – witnessed another significant tear. An even bigger issue is the role of religion in the country, something even Achakzai fights shy of broaching. The fact is that religion no longer unites Pakistan – it divides. In fact we stand rent apart. Tens of thousands have been killed in the name of religion. Nevertheless, our pleas for re-examining the role of religion in the country to prevent future catastrophes hardly ever gets a hearing. Mostly because there are many, too many, who are filially anxious to blame external causes for our catastrophes while closing their eyes to foreign-imported extremism.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 04:12:40 +0000
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