Dark side of the sun…
By Uzma Zafar

Different people respond differently to a given situation. Childhood is the time when one learns responses necessary for adaptability with one’s society. Remember when we used to be kids? Whenever we used to play, I don’t know about others but I used to throw away the playing cards, my Badminton racket or anything being used in play, blaming others for cheating on, each time I used to be losing, jeopardizing the game altogether. And back then, most of us shared the same reaction though the amount of tears varied. But when it came to demanding something from our parents, the same tears used to be treated with a tight scolding coupled with wild thrashing at times too. This made us learn to be patient in face of hardships and strong human beings having sportsman’s spirit. However, seeing the men of today, I don’t think there’s any patience and courage left in them! Can’t say what morals they got back home. If they got any at all…
Just like the criminals are not scared of arrests, in fact Central Jail is their second home but one thing that gives them the creeps is the third degree police torture, similarly unfortunately, where tragedies, big and small, personal or impersonal, are a part of every person’s normal life but only lately, the masses around have got scared of the aftermath of national tragedies in the face of rowdy crowd. Each time something happens in the country, a gang of protestors, more like a mafia of underworld enforcing their rule while invoking fear in people through sticks and stones, come out on the streets and destroy anything that comes in their way, let that be some building or someone crossing the road. Is this the way to grieve? Is throwing away everything that comes in one’s way and blaming the government for every tragedy, the way to grieve over and live satisfactorily in the society? Why the rule of Jungle in a civilized Capital like Islamabad at least, let alone the big cities?
It would not take rocket science to see what’s the national tragedy this time. We all know that on 27th Dec 2007, Pakistan People’s Party’s chairperson; Benazir Bhutto, fondly known as BB, was murdered by a suicide bomber while she was leaving after attending a public gathering at Pindi. And of course, a number of other innocent people also lost their lives in the attack that were nearby, at the blast site. The whole nation is in distress. Where the government has condemned the attack and announced a 3-day mourning in this connection, there PPP workers have decided to mourn for 40 days to follow.
When someone close to us dies, we try not to cry so as not to hurt the soul of the deceased and try to be strong and hold together the entire family boldly. We don’t go out hitting innocent people, burning tires on the roads, breaking off glasses of various shops, forcing people to shut their businesses, burning trains, pelting stones on the cops for letting us take out our frustration on others and a lot more that’s happening all over the country at the moment, giving the very idea to the west that we are not a patient nation, we put our heart forward in place of head and go mad in face of distress, and all in the name of grief over BB’s murder and so, protesting over the issue, why, nobody knows. If God forbids your loved one dies, would you burn everything at stake? Would you go haywire in protest? But why would a grief stricken mob protest anyway? Won’t you rather sit back and pray for the peaceful rest of the deceased’s soul and try to be cool and calm before others?
Grief and protest are two different things. Unfortunately, in every joy and sorrow, our people have found their own way to celebrate and grieve and that is through protest. What is the fault of those people who are traveling to other cities on trains when their mode of transportation is burnt? Why such blood and ashes? What’s the fault of the poor shopkeeper who’s forced to close business through stick, stone, fire and curses when all he’s trying to do is feed his families 2 times’ meal? And to top it all, what wrong have the innocent day-wagers done anyway, whose earning depends on the daily basis but who are forced to observe strike? And the masses who travel mainly through public transport, what’s their fault that there’s wheel jam in the city due to protection against the protestors?
Such rowdy crowd gives bad name to politics as well, proving the general concept right that those who cannot excel in education in particular and education in general and have nothing for aim, come into politics. And our media which should at least bring a positive image to the rest across the globe, is busy in exaturating every news and perhaps, giving one news ever since, dressed up in different forms, as if there’s nothing else left in the world, depressing the nation even further while giving the west an opportunity to raise fingers on us and question our leadership in particular. And this all is just because some of our media, like each time, is busy in sensationalism and exaturation of the news.
The need is not to cut yourself and beat your people to death for you are down over some tragedy. The need is also not to scatter away giving the foes opportunity to finish us off like a scattered pack of sticks, but be united in the cause and face the blow boldly. We should stop raising fingers on each other and stop exposing the dark side of an otherwise civilized, progressing and much sunny nation and be optimistic in face of distress even and stand together because alone we are nothing but together, we can do anything! Let’s stop protesting and grieve peacefully, showing to the world that we have brains in our head and cannot be easily manipulated while also showing to the forces trying to disrupt peace of our country that they won’t succeed in their plans for we all are together! Let’s show to everyone that we are not the dark side of the sun but the sun itself!