Will it ever get better 🤔

A sliver of hope, a glimmer for a better future and a chance for the people to come, this is what was demanded, very rationally, in an article published in The DAWN, 23rd Jan 2022 written by Hassan Kamal Watoo. He asked a question: “Will they speak out or will life move on?”

Let’s see what we got today. A government based on the concept of ‘Ihtsaab’ successfully slid 16 places down to 140th place on Transparency International’s Corruption Index for 2021. In my (layman’s) terms, this means Ta’awun is still being done, profusely, in the institutions that Imran Khan swore to ‘restore’ countless times. I wonder at the euphemism. ‘Ta’awun’, ‘Muk-muka’, ‘Chae-Pani’, ‘Bakshish’, ‘Kickback’, ‘Lifafa’, ‘Monthly’, ‘Token’, these are all the names of corruption practised in Pakistan. An officer who refuses to “ta’awun” will be thought of as being bad, when "ta’awun" is the name of stealing money from Pakistan and spending it to feed (Haram) to members of one’s kin and one self. These people then live a YOLO life, practically non-Muslims governing an Islamic Republic. I wish the people who get plea-bargained, and the people they name in their pleas, be displayed on huge posters on Railway stations. Local buses and Metros, their pictures be printed in school books. The victim, awam, should know that these are the people who stole national wealth. Imran Khan, Nawaz Shareef, Zardari or Fazl-ur-Rehman is not a ‘threat to democracy and ‘anti-state’. These proven corrupt are anti-state elements. If anyone of the people I named above (or suchlike) is declared corrupt by courts, not only should we ruin their reputation, the state must make sure these leasder of the people don’t live anymore. Public hanging is always condemned behind curtains and in closed rooms. I wish these whispers are silenced forever, by hook or by crook but preferably by publical hangings.

I am sorry, notices are being taken right? Ministers like Sheikh Rasheed openly provoke a culture of ‘sexual-spice’ while being in office. Our Prime minister asks our women to behave. Hitmen are hired to kill journalists. PDM is licking its boots. Cases of rapes are being withdrawn by the defendants. Don’t you see the misery in this or am I really alone? 14-year old kid in PML-N's 'Takht-Lahore' killed his family influenced by PUBG. We need more overhead bridges and underpasses in Lahore, right? The inability of 70 years of government’s structure to shape the young generation is so clearly visible in this single case. But yeah, ban PUBG. That’ll solve the problems.

Who am I? An ordinary citizen who knows his basic rights, and he’ll wish and moan and burn in wait for some kind of revolution/miracle. If one member of the 63% youth earns 72 lakhs by freelancing, why the hell would he pay 21 lakhs in taxes to a state that doesn't even guarantee his own life? To hell! Oh, but I forget; Revolution takes time. Progress needs patience. I am 21 and statistically, I have 40 more years to live. Change which takes generations can go eat shit. I need to see the world good before leaving my children in it. Tableeghi people are running their show (not that there’s anything wrong with it). Police rapes. Molvis terrorize. Media sells. Corruption roars. Army 'Establishes': Lavish Monals and Sailing Clubs. Am "I" seeing just the negative perspective or is the whole society acting like a pigeon which closes its eyes upon seeing a cat? There’s not one thing wrong with this system, my innocent enslaved people. This whole system is wrong. Yes you are a slave too, and so am I. Zardari and Bilawal, Nawaz and Shahbaz, Imran and a few generals who remain under the impression that they are all too powerful, for a few years, if these and their minions are all not corrupt, they are certainly and were consciously, ignorant. Justice was and is being delayed and is done so intentionally. Transport mafia, Water mafia, Electricity and Gas Mafia, Beggary Mafia, Land Mafia, Armed forces Mafia, Institutional Mafia, these are all the different sides of one coin and the name of that coin is ‘System’. Don’t change this system. Root it out. How many years do you need more? Otherwise today or tomorrow, 63% will speak out and that will be a nasty sight. System can delay a revolution but never deny it. Change the system while a peaceful transition is still possible. Not a threat, just a literate, experienced, citizen’s heartfelt, honest prediction. Peace.

Life will keep moving and at a certain time, we will get frustrated and we’ll scream out. Capitalism is not a system of continued peace. It will evolve into a new system. I am not formally associated with any political party, but from the laws set by someone above us, I deduce the following: Utopia always emerges from within the Dystopia. Calm arouses from under the eye of the storm. Things will get better and they will do so while I live, in much less than 40 years. There’s a catch 22 though. Somehow evil will also emerge, again, and will lead the society into dystopia again. This circle of good and bad will continue until there exists no circle.

Coming to the more urgent question for now, much less of a question, rather more of a wonderment, what is this system? In DAWN I see daily at least one picture of some downtrodden, wretched of the Earth, child or elderly doing whatever (s)he’s doing, oblivious to his/her surroundings. This individual is a worthless entity of the current system, a background picture running in many subconscious minds. We think about ourselves, being us, and that’s it. We don’t care about the person sitting next to us. We have our questions and predictions and beliefs and a plethora of problems. Life moves on.

Here let me ask a question; Is DAWN not read by the people who can make a change in this system, if they just wanted to? Why are they silent? Are they senseless psychopaths, ruling only to hoard wealth and power? A hill close to my home gives a view of Bani Galla and I often climb that hill and I wonder if Imran even knows the shithole this country has become? Why is the gap between rich and poor still increasing? I was applying for PM’s Ehsaas Rashan Scheme yesterday and while it felt good to know that there’s at least an opening to apply to, it was vehemently ridiculous to see the given subsidy: 1000RS. The school fees of one of my little sisters is more than that. But she will study. Ehsaas or no Ehsaas, she’ll study because I want her to know how to read this article, and how to write more suchlike. She will know the cause of her sufferings when she grows up. She will make a revolution with her generation, but if left till then, the peaceful transition will no longer be possible.

Am I too hard? Back in Ramadan of 2008 when I was in grade 2, I kept my first fast. For my first Iftar, what I wanted was the then RS8 delicacy: Samosa. My dad, a Lans-Naik in Army at the time, brought home a samosa but unfortunately, I took a bite just moments before the actual Iftar time that written on our calendar. (I heard the azan!). My dad shook me hard that day, and that’s when I knew what was more important. I am mindful of what should have been done in the office in state at that time, the result of which coming downstream would have prevented my dad from getting frustrated. It’s not his fault because only God knows for how many days was that man saving money to be able to get my Samosa. That is what made me hard. There’s a long list of such incidents saved today in my Google Notes. The point of the matter however is, my dad was a slave to Nawaz Shareef, Musharraf, Zardari and the generals of his era. I will earn to feed the mouths of Maryam BB, Hamza Bradr, Bilawal Bhutto and now kins of Imran Khan too, and to feed the judges and generals who are always ready to do "ta’awun". My upcoming generation will give away most of what they earn, through hardships, grindings, struggles-on-the-street, deteriorated mental health and what not to some new prince and princess born with a golden spoon in the homes of people named above, and suchlike. This realization now forces me to make a decision. No matter how much I love Pakistan, this is a nation on its route to dystopia. I might choose to be a part of it but the people whom I care about will be given a chance, by hook or by crook.

Life will keep moving as we speak out. No disrespect is meant for any person or institutions mentioned, except based on their personal characters and anti-state activities. Peace.

I am Muhammad Awais Alam, a senior student of Mass Communication in NUST, Islamabad.

Image added for cover page.