Sincerely, The Discontented and Defiant Souls of the Oppressed
“They,” the puppeteers of this orchestrated terror, manipulate us to the point where we become desperate, dependent, and fearful. It is a diabolical game designed to maintain their control, an illusion of salvation they craft upon our vulnerabilities.
We are left powerless, unable to act or raise our voices without being watched, monitored, and silenced. The explosions and tragedies continue unabated, only to serve as a prelude to their call for a “clean-up operation,” a sinister demand for more resources and control. They shall drown us in propaganda, relentlessly insisting on their indispensability and the necessity of stability. Yet, this propaganda thrives on the sacrifice of those who fall with their boots on, the brave souls who dare to challenge the status quo.
It is all part of their grand design to quell any political campaigns, especially in the Pashtun belt, where support for Khan stands strong. They seek to eliminate any possibility of genuine campaigning, ensuring they can manipulate the elections to obscure the will of the people. A coalition government of compromises is their ultimate goal, for it strengthens their grip on power.
As they push us to the brink of life and death, we find ourselves faced with a harrowing choice. But we shall choose life, for within that decision lies our strength. Yet, in the agony of our plight, we are driven to contemplate reviving separatist movements, for how else can we express our desperation and helplessness?
The heavy toll they extract from us knows no bounds. How many more must we bury? How many more children will be robbed of their time on this earth? Families disintegrate, women are left widowed, and parents endure the unbearable sorrow of losing their children.
When the breadwinners fall, households are left vulnerable, teetering on the precipice of survival. They are coerced into trading their votes for fleeting security or offering their children to the cruel forces that promise sustenance in exchange.
The actions of “they” reveal their true nature. They could have chosen a path of justice, yet they prefer rehabilitation for terrorists, perpetuating the very policies they claim to denounce.
Children are detained, women are arrested without reason, and subjected to unspeakable violations men vanish without a trace. All whilst they demand control over our private lives, wanting social media to store our every thought and action. They wield the knowledge of all, for it serves their own agenda.
How can they “not know” — it is but a matter of priorities. Our people are not their priority. The future of the generation growing up amidst fear is expendable and those disabled by injuries, and enduring suffering are mere pawns in their pursuit of power.
It is why Sindh is still underwater, whilst Thar still starves. It is why Balochistan drowns in flash floods every year, with nothing changing whatsoever. It is why it is so easy to let KPK bleed. It is why Chitralis are left on their own as their homes are swept away by flash floods. It is why in Islamabad, people like Zahir Jaffer go unpunished, and people like Omar Nawaz Awan are still missing. It is why Punjab continues to face the brunt of the PDM’s reign of terror. We pay in blood, and the suffering it inflicts is immeasurable.
Somewhere, children have been orphaned because several fathers have committed suicide due to crippling inflation. In a hospital, a child lies still on a bed in the Intensive Care Unit, traumatised due to the disappearance of his father, and the never-ending raids on his house. A 10-year-old has spent a harrowing night in police custody, for flying a flag associated to his father’s politics. Someone, with 300 followers on Twitter, has been arrested for a tweet. The police is playing judge, jury, executioner and God to women who are facing trial in prison instead of the court. There is a new hashtag about a young man gone missing every other day, if not everyday.
All this happens amid separatist Pakhtunistan flags soaring in Islamabad. We can only wonder, if ethnonationalism is being weaponised, or allowed, deliberately by the powerful, to break Imran Khan’s support base in a province. There is one attack after another by the Pakistan Taliban. Once again, we can only wonder, if it’s a case of misplaced priorities to use resources for public safety, or if the war economy is being brought back intentionally.
Not even God can save Pakistan from the power-hungry.
In unity lies our strength, and in courage, our salvation. May we stand together against the tyranny of “them,” and may truth and justice prevail. We have failed ourselves, our land and our people. The complicit are responsible. Those who have power, and those who want to hang onto it. Those who have a voice, but do not use it. Those who choose to remain silent, and those who endorse half-cooked lies. Those who find scapegoats to blame. Those who could have chosen firing squads over rehabilitation for the terrorists, but did not, and those who continue the policies they claim are to be blamed. We, who did not believe when our people screamed from the peripheries.
Some day soon, the inevitable will happen. There will be blood. Nothing stands forever, no system is inevitable. And this system’s time is over. It is breathing its last, as does any system without justice. As the pages of this grim year turn towards the end, a storm of rebellion brews in the hearts of the oppressed. The seeds of resistance, sown through whispered defiance will find fertile ground among those who yearn for freedom. The ever-watchful eyes of “them” may seem omnipotent, but within the depths of the human spirit lies an indomitable will to be free.
As the people awaken from the haze of fear, the time approaches for a reckoning, a bloody revolution. Systems which cannot be reformed must be burnt to the ground. Perhaps it will herald the dawn of a new era. It is far more likely, that it will shatter everything, and the vacuum created will create a monster like every one-party system in history. Pakistan is headed for a dark decade. Depending upon how things turn out in Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan too, will either turn to religion or secularism, both of which, will be oppressive.
Bloodshed is a small price for liberation. The writing on the wall reads in red, in caps: the oppressive regime is destined to crumble under the weight of its own malevolence. In this final act of defiance, Pakistanis need to stand firm against the darkness that sought to enslave it.
