The Spectacle of Devolution

The creature let out a piercing shriek, as the ‘Intolerant’ struck it again with its whip, lacerating the creature’s flesh. The atrocious pounding was a punishment, a rational one in Intolerant’s opinion, as the creature had tried to defile the ‘White Light’ with its blackened and impious hands. The White Light was all-encompassing, outreaching to the furthest crevices and extending as far as the vision prevailed. Its intense glowing warmth seemed to envelope the essence of all beings in its enclosure. However, this majestic entity was not bound by the dimension of time, its uniqueness espoused by the concurrent opacity and transparency of its existence. The creature was piqued by the riveting attributes of the White Light and consequently raised its hesitant hands to feel its manifestation.

The creature lay on the ground, squirming helplessly due to the torment inflicted by Intolerant. The whip descended on the creature, almost in a rhythmic fashion with the creature’s hellish roars, begging for mercy, booming with every strike. Creature’s woeful suffering had two other spectators; ‘Oblivious’ and ‘Lost’, equidistant from Intolerant and each other, with bizarrely dissimilar reactions to the creature’s agony. Intolerant continued its zealous lashing unabatedly; however, Oblivious was unconditionally abstracted by the wailing of the creature. Oblivious was seemingly traversing while clutching something in its hands, utterly absorbed in its detailing. Whereas, every shriek of the creature sent shivers down Lost’s spine and it’s palpable screaming had hypnotized Lost undisputedly. Lost wanted to lunge at the Intolerant and deaden its torment upon the creature. Lost wanted to save the creature and yet it felt paralyzed; it was transfixed at one spot, its feet immovable. All the words resonating with its insides, escaped articulation, and Lost was left waving its arms in protest, outstretched towards the Intolerant to cease. Unhindered in its resolve, Lost beseeched Oblivious to intercede, however Oblivious remained heedless, regardless of being mobile. Lost observed that a certain darkness had started to unfold and envelope the staging, although the White Light was unaltered. The creature’s cries were fading; its predestined fate was fast becoming an actuality. Lost begged the White Light to reorient the consciousness of the Intolerant and Oblivious, it pleaded for the showering of benevolence.

It stopped. The creature had given up, and the solitude of nonexistence had taken the creature away, away from the Intolerant. However, the Intolerant continued to punish the creature, lashing its lifeless body, chanting its own pledges of adherence towards the White Light. When the creature was mutilated beyond recognition, the Intolerant began to justify its rationality, its steadfast allegiance to safeguard the sanctitude of the White Light. Lost was overcome by a whirlwind of emotions and the mushrooming darkness surrounding it was indistinguishably emulating its insides. It felt it had disappointed the White Light; it had not succeeded to persuade Intolerant and Oblivious to terminate the inhumane treatment of the creature. But, most crucially, Lost could not fathom the gripping rationale of such immeasurable hate, especially since Lost noticed that the White Light was timelessly pristine.

The stratification of society in Pakistan is perceived along socioeconomic, ethnic or linguistic lines, highlighting the entrenched diversities in our nation. However, an escalating phenomenon has ultimately surfaced, resonating with every citizen and unambiguously binding us all; an overarching trend of receding humanity in the Pakistani nation. Undeniably, Pakistan has its woeful tale of suffering and misfortune, be it natural calamities, the ruination by terrorism or the catastrophes brought on by power grudges. Consequently, stark consciousness has been given to all elements of the state while disregarding the human life. It may not have been a deliberate policy or a desired outcome, but this phenomenon has become a reality. It can be contended that the Pakistani nation has taken attempts to immunize itself against surreal realities, for instance, the 16^th December, 2014 Peshawar school attack. But these insulation measures have de-humanized the society, in the nation’s attempt to emerge uninfluenced; it has lost capacities of human compassion.

Similar to the above narrative, the ’humanity scale’ of Pakistani nation reads intolerant, oblivious and lost. The country is overrun by the intolerant narrative, not only opposing the anti-Islam chronicles, but convinced vehemently by its rationale as a solution to the problems of the nation, it only understands the language of force. Surprisingly, vast majority of the nation has sought oblivion as a coping mechanism while also becoming border-line irreligious. Their lives are unconditionally detached from the suffering of others, unless some misfortune befalls them directly. However, the smallest portion of the society contains the losts, their consciousness and enlightenment becoming a living death with every passing day. Their internal battle of not responding to the intolerants with hate or anguish, but rather to establish an understanding towards their actions has collapsed the resilience of the losts, as intolerance is infiltrating the society like a disease. 

Arguably, the receding humanity in our nation can be labeled as a fictitious tale, but should this reality be ignored when mob lynching is a common occurrence in our society? Even more so, when it takes place in an educational institute and by educated people? Furthermore, when it is perpetrated in the name of a set of beliefs that only propagate boundless tolerance and love for humanity? Pakistanis may blame the draconian laws of our state, or the miscarriage of justice, or even the ‘divide and school’ policies of the ruthless fanatics. But coming in terms with our receding humanity, as a nation, should be vehemently contested; we are all humans, before we are Muslims or Pakistanis.



Contributor Faryal Khan is MS student of Peace & Conflict Studies at the Centre for International Peace & Stability (CIPS) - National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). This article is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views or policy of any particular institution or organization.