“Karachi is in the grip of violence and terror,” it states. “As citizens and stakeholders, we have decided to raise hell and make a nuisance of ourselves. What we are aiming to do is express our outrage and let our leaders know that we’ve had enough. Join us in our struggle to reclaim our city of lights.”
The campaign is to take the form of a one week peaceful protest starting on Ocober 29, with participants asked to wear black armbands and attend a peaceful rally at the Karachi Press Club next Saturday.
Now my first (typically cynical) thought was, “What difference are 27 English-medium coffeehouse afficionados, peacefully chanting We Shall Overcome, going to make to the situation in a city of over 15 million mainly-Urdu speaking people?”
But then two things struck me. Firstly, what the hell am I doing to help matters? Hell, I've even forsaken the town of my birth - perhaps forever :( At least, while I'm sitting on my expanding ass doing nothing in another goddam country, these guys are concerned enough to want to do something, and are going out and doing it.
The second thing that occurred to me was that if a change is to come in Karachi, a change for the better, for peace, then this is how it must begin. Through peaceful means. And gradually. Karachi is burning – literally and figuratively has been for decades now. But rabid, flash in the pan type protests will achieve nothing. Have achieved nothing in the past. Angry rhetoric and threats and expressions of violence may be superficially cathartic, but will only fan flames already way out of control.
To gain lasting peace in Karachi peaceful means need to be adopted. To achieve the unachievable the very pulse of the city must resonate with the desire to banish forever the demon of internecine feuding: one by one by one the people of Karachi, coming together in peace to reject the purveyors of civil war. It will be a slow process, one that requires all to be patient, to have a clear objective, to not waver from the desire to create an environment where children can grow up without fear, without hatred, and with hope.
A pipe dream? Quite possibly. But what other choice is there?
6 comments:
Hi Kinkominos loved your blog. Can't believe it's taken me so long to get on it!!!! You'll be seeing me as a regular on it from now on. love
Aliyah
Yeah, at least they are doing something though I am not ure how much difference it will make...even in the long run...
thanks for dropping by, bhabiji. look forward to seeing you here more often.
@ayesha, you're probably right. in and of itself it won't amount to much at all. but in the absence of any other solution which seems feasible, i think the adoption of a qatra qatra darya approach to cleaning our augean stables is in order.
Sometimes in our cynicism we can become too apathetic. Any form of nonviolent protest is good protest. It's what actually works in the long run. I think its fantastic
hazrat, your suspicions were spot on, Rs.200 chauffeur-driven cappucino-drinkers who print a few english flyers were not going, nor did they make a difference.
The real slow process is small acts of kindness on the street, leaving your seat on the bus for someone elderly, with kids, etc., regardless of ethnicity. Thats how community feeling develops.
Then to pass off everything to our leaders. That's really not fair. The leaders reflect our own failings, magnified.
Nice blog btw. Clever writing. And a nice guy behind, it seems.
sufi saab (if i may call you that) (i had a sneak preview of your blog), i think one of the problems is that we have got so used to blaming our (no doubt eminently culpable) liege lords for our sorry lot, that we have abdicated all responsibility for improving it. our growing sense of apathy should be among our major concerns.
many thanks for the compliments. i'm sure you know what you're talking about
:)
Post a Comment