As if to make sure we don’t get too full of ourselves after global teen sensation Malala Yusufzai’s recent Nobel win, the fates reminded us with cruel timing that here, in our Land of Unequal Opportunity, even icons of asceticism and piety can be terrorized and robbed, no matter their position on drone attacks and US imperialism.
Abdul Sattar Edhi – philanthropist, social worker and Nobel prize-winner-in-waiting – was held at gunpoint and robbed at his headquarters last week in Karachi. Can you imagine? Aren’t you disgusted? Aren’t you horrified? Aren’t you embarrassed? I am. It’s like the plot for some over-produced feel-bad Christmas movie where a gang is robbing orphans, even as they stand in toeless socks and speak in adorable inner-city accents. Actually – what am I saying? – it’s exactly like robbing orphans, for that is exactly what has happened.
The news channels here have been describing the incident as “a robbery at the Edhi headquarters”, which doesn’t do it nearly enough justice. A group of bandits entered the grand old man’s bedroom and held him at gunpoint for over half an hour while they looted the nearby safe, which had bricks of gold and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash (side note: bricks of gold?). The money was being kept for Mr. Edhi’s charity, obviously.
And that’s just really sad, because at a time when we are becoming deeply suspicious of one another’s politics and beliefs and Facebook motives, Edhi Sahib was the one person above reproach: sage, wizened, with his long beard and kind eyes. The guy is like Gandalf the Grey. And nobody but nobody hates on Gandalf.
The incident having taken place in Karachi, that benighted, conspiracy-wracked city by the sea, I have my suspicions about the robbers’ sources and motives. I almost want to believe that this was a politically motivated crime rather a simple money-grabbing scheme. That would make it less shameful. I mean: there are hundreds of houses in Karachi with money and gold lying around, why choose to rob one of the most prominent people in the country, all but guaranteeing national scrutiny, unless that was the point of the gig? (And if – horror of horrors – the robbers got a thrill out of their high-publicity stunt… Well, I wouldn’t know what to say to that.)
In case you haven’t crawled down yet and curled into a sickle of shame, let’s talk about Aasia Bibi. Remember her? Yes, she is the Christian woman who was accused of blasphemy several years ago, who was defended briefly by Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer before he was assassinated for daring to do so. The “security guard” (it has come to that, reader: we must now put those words in inverted commas) who killed Mr. Taseer was showered with rose petals by lawyers and clerics and jubilant laypersons for doing his deed. Well, this week Aasia Bibi’s death sentence was upheld by the Lahore High Court; and this country just lost a major battle.
I hope you feel as frustrated as I do that the judges didn’t have the guts to take on the law and fight for this poor woman. I hope you feel frustrated that neither Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, nor anyone in his cabinet, has tried to obtain a pardon for this woman. The MQM has said nothing about her. PTI chief and PM-in-waiting Imran Khan – the man who has been talking non-stop in Islamabad for two months now, claiming to hold the key to this country’s problems, and has yet somehow managed to avoid uttering the words ‘terrorist’, ‘are’, ‘Taliban’ in that or any other order – has said nothing. Aasia Bibi, according to the policy wonks who patrol the leafy avenues of Islamabad, will in all likelihood be executed, and with her death will come the confirmation that we are in fact the worst kind of state on this planet: one that preys on its weakest and most vulnerable citizens.
[quote]The only public figure I saw mention Aasia Bibi this week was the young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari[/quote]
Surprisingly, the only public figure I saw mention Aasia Bibi this week was the young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a 26 year-old who said more controversial things in his recent rally than I’ve heard all year. Or in my whole life. (I was born in the “post-Zia” years, as I keep telling people with rancor and regret.) I must say I didn’t expect this from BBZ. Practically no one makes statements like that in Pakistan anymore. Perhaps the others are exercising the studied caution of age, or maybe Bilawal is too young yet to be frightened, or perhaps the PPP is trying to rebrand itself. Whatever. Point is: I was so pleased and relieved to find that someone – someone! – on the national platform had the courage to mention Aasia Bibi, and the Baloch missing persons, and Mukhtara Mai, and the Taliban. And all in the right contexts. (That is to say: Save Aasia Bibi, Bring Back the Missing Persons, Never Forget Mukhtara Mai, and Damn the Taliban.)
Whatever critiques we have about the PPP and its record of governance, what young BBZ said on stage last week was brave and clear and echoed many of my own thoughts. These aren’t revolutionary thoughts, mind you: support for the missing (i.e. abducted, tortured and likely murdered) Baloch, criticism of the blasphemy laws, erring on the side of tolerance rather than capital punishment – all these are commonsensical nods to the notion of universal human rights. I wish we had more people who could openly call the Taliban the terrorist scourge that they are. As with alcoholics or drug addicts, I think admitting we have a problem is the first step on the path to recovery. Unfortunately, this week we took about five steps back and one down. That’s how low we can go.
But let’s not tempt ourselves. As my grandmother used to say, no matter how awful, how terrible, how utterly irredeemable everything seems, always remember: it can get worse.
Write to thekantawala@gmail.com and follow @fkantawala on twitter.com
Abdul Sattar Edhi – philanthropist, social worker and Nobel prize-winner-in-waiting – was held at gunpoint and robbed at his headquarters last week in Karachi. Can you imagine? Aren’t you disgusted? Aren’t you horrified? Aren’t you embarrassed? I am. It’s like the plot for some over-produced feel-bad Christmas movie where a gang is robbing orphans, even as they stand in toeless socks and speak in adorable inner-city accents. Actually – what am I saying? – it’s exactly like robbing orphans, for that is exactly what has happened.
The news channels here have been describing the incident as “a robbery at the Edhi headquarters”, which doesn’t do it nearly enough justice. A group of bandits entered the grand old man’s bedroom and held him at gunpoint for over half an hour while they looted the nearby safe, which had bricks of gold and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash (side note: bricks of gold?). The money was being kept for Mr. Edhi’s charity, obviously.
And that’s just really sad, because at a time when we are becoming deeply suspicious of one another’s politics and beliefs and Facebook motives, Edhi Sahib was the one person above reproach: sage, wizened, with his long beard and kind eyes. The guy is like Gandalf the Grey. And nobody but nobody hates on Gandalf.
The incident having taken place in Karachi, that benighted, conspiracy-wracked city by the sea, I have my suspicions about the robbers’ sources and motives. I almost want to believe that this was a politically motivated crime rather a simple money-grabbing scheme. That would make it less shameful. I mean: there are hundreds of houses in Karachi with money and gold lying around, why choose to rob one of the most prominent people in the country, all but guaranteeing national scrutiny, unless that was the point of the gig? (And if – horror of horrors – the robbers got a thrill out of their high-publicity stunt… Well, I wouldn’t know what to say to that.)
In case you haven’t crawled down yet and curled into a sickle of shame, let’s talk about Aasia Bibi. Remember her? Yes, she is the Christian woman who was accused of blasphemy several years ago, who was defended briefly by Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer before he was assassinated for daring to do so. The “security guard” (it has come to that, reader: we must now put those words in inverted commas) who killed Mr. Taseer was showered with rose petals by lawyers and clerics and jubilant laypersons for doing his deed. Well, this week Aasia Bibi’s death sentence was upheld by the Lahore High Court; and this country just lost a major battle.
I hope you feel as frustrated as I do that the judges didn’t have the guts to take on the law and fight for this poor woman. I hope you feel frustrated that neither Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, nor anyone in his cabinet, has tried to obtain a pardon for this woman. The MQM has said nothing about her. PTI chief and PM-in-waiting Imran Khan – the man who has been talking non-stop in Islamabad for two months now, claiming to hold the key to this country’s problems, and has yet somehow managed to avoid uttering the words ‘terrorist’, ‘are’, ‘Taliban’ in that or any other order – has said nothing. Aasia Bibi, according to the policy wonks who patrol the leafy avenues of Islamabad, will in all likelihood be executed, and with her death will come the confirmation that we are in fact the worst kind of state on this planet: one that preys on its weakest and most vulnerable citizens.
[quote]The only public figure I saw mention Aasia Bibi this week was the young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari[/quote]
Surprisingly, the only public figure I saw mention Aasia Bibi this week was the young Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, a 26 year-old who said more controversial things in his recent rally than I’ve heard all year. Or in my whole life. (I was born in the “post-Zia” years, as I keep telling people with rancor and regret.) I must say I didn’t expect this from BBZ. Practically no one makes statements like that in Pakistan anymore. Perhaps the others are exercising the studied caution of age, or maybe Bilawal is too young yet to be frightened, or perhaps the PPP is trying to rebrand itself. Whatever. Point is: I was so pleased and relieved to find that someone – someone! – on the national platform had the courage to mention Aasia Bibi, and the Baloch missing persons, and Mukhtara Mai, and the Taliban. And all in the right contexts. (That is to say: Save Aasia Bibi, Bring Back the Missing Persons, Never Forget Mukhtara Mai, and Damn the Taliban.)
Whatever critiques we have about the PPP and its record of governance, what young BBZ said on stage last week was brave and clear and echoed many of my own thoughts. These aren’t revolutionary thoughts, mind you: support for the missing (i.e. abducted, tortured and likely murdered) Baloch, criticism of the blasphemy laws, erring on the side of tolerance rather than capital punishment – all these are commonsensical nods to the notion of universal human rights. I wish we had more people who could openly call the Taliban the terrorist scourge that they are. As with alcoholics or drug addicts, I think admitting we have a problem is the first step on the path to recovery. Unfortunately, this week we took about five steps back and one down. That’s how low we can go.
But let’s not tempt ourselves. As my grandmother used to say, no matter how awful, how terrible, how utterly irredeemable everything seems, always remember: it can get worse.
Write to thekantawala@gmail.com and follow @fkantawala on twitter.com