Poison and the people

Poison comes in many forms. It can therefore have a variety of effects – both mental and physical. We see today, around us, a poisoning of both the mind and the body. The process is in some ways at least inter-connected and linked to a lack of willingness to break free of the mould we have been forced into.

The intellectual poisoning we have undergone through the decades is today visible in the quite extraordinary response we see to terrorism. They are people – by all appearances perfectly rational ones – who keep up an extraordinary unwillingness to blame militants for the violence which threatens us all. Some insist the "hornet's nest" should never have been disturbed in the first place and argue that those who touched it are to blame for the violence we now face. Others insist that the bomb blasts that destroy lives and wreck peace are simply an expression of anti-American feeling. The fact that they target those who have no links with US policy, like the 111 women and men and children who died so senselessly in Peshawar, is conveniently ignored. So too is the immorality inherent in these attacks.

The notion that the Taliban are good is deeply rooted. It is somehow tied in to the belief that religion cannot be questioned. Still more deeply entrenched is the idea that the US is bad. There are, of course, sound reasons for this. There is much about US policy that is evil. We have seen manifestations of this wrong across continents. Both those who draw inspiration from the Left and those who do so from the Right have reason to be wary of Washington. But if we look at matters as they today stand, the fact too is that in some areas at least our interests and those of the US happen to coincide. This does not, of course, mean that we should not continue to press for a US pullout from a region that the flawed policies of the White House have reduced to mayhem. But we should also keep in view the fact that the closer ties with India and the defeat of the Taliban being advocated by Washington would benefit all of us. There also remains some doubt over whether Islamabad alone has the capacity or the commitment to engage in what will be a long war against militants and a war that has to be fought on several fronts.

To do so successfully we need to find an anecdote to the poison that has clouded minds. The inability to think is for one rooted in the declining habit of creativity. The system of education that we subject children to is a factor in this. Even at the best schools, children simply mimic or depend on rote, rather than learning how to question or how to discover knowledge on their own. Difference is discouraged. In many ways this insistence on uniformity is what has shaped a nation that seems sometimes quite incapable of meeting the growing challenges it faces. Why, we must ask, has it taken us so long to take on terror? Even now, is there too great a willingness to accept the altered reality we live in, rather than to fight against it? Is it this which makes us increasingly indifferent to violence – or is this simply a manifestation of the survival instinct that all living beings possess and which allows adaptation to all kinds of circumstances?

Speaking of survival, we continue also to poison our bodies. Air pollution in cities such as Lahore is now reported by international bodies to be among the highest in the world. Water quality has declined sharply, leaving many of us dependent on bottled sources. The majority regularly fall victim to sickness borne by water. Like so much else, a substance essential to life has become a commodity we must pay for. Yet, despite this, we have failed to force down the use of plastic bags or to control the pollution of water sources. The civic sense required for this seems somehow to be missing. Most of us complain about the environmental degradation we see. Few of us do very much about it, even though, much like the scourge of terrorism, it threatens our very survival.

There are other ways we jeopardise this. Pesticides that leach into soil poison more and more vegetables and food crops. The most privileged have found expensive, organic sources for the items we use every day – but these, of course, are accessible only to a tiny minority. There has been very little expression of public concern about what the content of our foods is.

Emerging anecdotal evidence, from parents and medical practitioners, speaks of children – especially girls – reaching puberty far earlier than the norm in previous generations, possibly as a result of steroid hormones added to animal products at various points. In terms of health, this has potentially serious long-term consequences. The need for more research is paramount. But the fact also is that even when awareness exists, as citizens too many of us are unwilling to do very much to fight back against the tide.

Rather than resisting commercial pressures, or encouraging children to do the same, we give in – even at the risk of their health and welfare. Ideas of upward mobility, of emulating the West, add to this. Burgers are, in the popular mindset, somehow better than biryani. For all the anti-US sentiment, this concept remains in place.

The core problem seems to be an inability to see ourselves as one body of citizens. When power-cuts inflict havoc, those who are able to do so purchase generators or UPS devices, and when terrorists or robbers threaten safety the wealthy employ security guards. The demand for guards, scanners and cameras has recently been so great that companies have struggled to provide them. But the idea of combining forces and working for the good of everyone rather than just ourselves, by demanding the state do more to meet the needs of people, seems to have almost disappeared.

It is time that it was recreated. Survival is a collective process. We need to recognise this to get rid of the poisons that have entered the bloodstream. At present, there is a limited sense of any kind of unity. This can be created only when there is a readiness to stand together and to create a force able to counter the dangers that today lurk around every corner.