[This is a wonderful piece written by my friend Wajahat Qazi. The extremely irrational behaviour of TTP has been explained please do read this ] Can Pakistan overcome the toxic brew of hate, violence and vendetta? The state and nation of Pakistan is at war with itself. A grim reminder of this condition was the gruesome, barbaric and cold blooded murder of school children in Peshawar by the Tehreek e Taliban , Pakistan. What feeds this war essentially are the competing ideas of Pakistan where the state and nation of Pakistan are at odds with each other. There is the state of Pakistan and then there are nation’s that comprise Pakistan. All are at odds with each other. The hatreds and emotions that form this matrix and spectrum are both cognitive and emotional. The cognitive aspects imply and mean devaluation of others and viewing them either as threats or competitors. This breeds the emotional aspect, which leads to intense feelings of anger, fear and hostility. These feelings are so intense and irrational that the hated group of individuals is seen as worthy of being eliminated. The psychological mechanism involved justifies this. Under normal conditions, a ‘normal’ emotional and cognitive condition obtains. People are viewed as humans and empathy and ethical considerations abound. This condition breaks under conditions of stress or when the emotional and psychosocial condition of a society or nation gyrates to a different rhythm. The massacre or genocide in Rwanda may constitute a classic example of this. While Pakistan has not reached this point and hopefully never may, these cognitive, emotional and psychosocial dynamics appear to be at play in the Peshawar massacre. Innocent school children, off –springs of Army men-the denounced group which is hated by the TTP – are viewed as extensions of the Army. The very innocence of young children, their tender age, is overwhelmed by extreme emotion of hatred. The children and the Army men are seen as co-eval- dehumanized, demonized objects who have to be eliminated because of revenge and vendetta. The normal emotional and psychological matrix that defines human beings is suspended. Hate leads to a toxic brew and violence is the natural and inevitable concomitant. This condition flows and accrues from fanaticism or ideology fed fanaticism which overvalues a certain idea or concept, devalues others and creates an alternate reality for the fanatic or fanatics. In this alternate reality, anyone who does not adhere to the fanatic’s ideas and worldview is deemed either as inferior or an enemy. Normal psychological and emotional processes are suspended and irrationality takes over. A shia Muslim, for instance, is viewed as an infidel and the hated enemy. His/her human attributes are dismissed or not factored in the psychological and emotional schema of the fanatic. Eliminating the hated object is even glorified and the very act of killing here generates perverse emotions in the perpetuator. Hatred , fear, revenge, vendetta explain the TTP’s vile aggression against children. All this is very basic psychology but the question is what implications flow for Pakistan? First, Pakistan, to repeat is at war with itself. Groups and sub-groups jostle for space in the Pakistani firmament. This is a normal state of affairs for perhaps in any modern nation. However, the key difference, when it comes to Pakistan , is that violence becomes the arbiter of group difference or differences. Second, this is a very dangerous and abnormal condition which if allowed to fester can lead to the implosion of Pakistan. The third condition flows from the second: when the state and nations ( groups and sub groups) are at odds with each other for a prolonger time, either the state asserts itself or society gets militarized. Either condition is unsalutary. An overweening state either becomes a police state or authoritarian –the only glue that binds the state and nation together. This, however, means that once or the moment the state weakens, the country breaks down and the other negative consequence is the society becomes stultified. When society becomes militarized, civil war is just around the corner. Both these scenarios can pan out and denoue in Pakistan. The challenge is to counter these forces and rebuild Pakistan. How? A course correction and review may be a prudent start. The Pakistani state and society need to be on the same page regarding the nature and identity of Pakistan. This would mean and entail real and substantive democracy and space for the ‘Other’ in Pakistan. Once the state and society are aligned over the nature and idea of Pakistan, a review of the security orientation and geopolitical orientation of the Pakistani state becomes exigent. If all these factors pan out and are put in place and a new paradigm created, peace and stability may descend on Pakistan. The country will be at peace with itself and the world at large. Is there any possibility of this happening in the near future? No. Pakistan will unfortunately take the hard, convulsive and violent route. This will constitute the ultimate tragedy for Pakistan- a country whose stated rationale was to be a place of security for South Asia’s Muslims.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 16:32:11 +0000
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