Just days after the horrible lynching in Sialkot, a new barbaric act has taken place in the country. As predicted after the Sialkot incident by many, that a new incident would occur which would take the place of the Sialkot incident; a new incident to take the place of the Sialkot incident did happen.
A group of garbage pickers in Faisalabad entered a shop and merely asked for water that they invited the wrath of the shopkeepers and nearby men, and were beaten and stripped. The women were also recorded so that their ordeal could be witnessed by everyone on social media.
Though some of those who took part have been arrested, the question that arises is what is causing all this barbarism. Why is it that every day, we are witnesses to horrifying and gross acts of injustice, and that too which are the most violent and deplorable acts. Lynching, mob beatings, sexual assault, stripping. Why is it that those partaking in these acts don’t even think for a second about what pain they are causing the other person, and that if not the law, they would face the hammer of justice in the hereafter?
One can blame lawlessness, but I believe that even in a state like Pakistan where the law and order situation is poor, there still exists some semblance of justice, and people know that they would have to spend some time in prison. And even if they know that they will escape justice, where is there belief in God? Why do they so blatantly violate the rights of their fellow humans.
I believe that the reason for that is that this is a vicious cycle. Due to a lack of justice, acts of violence become a daily occurrence. Seeing so much violence around oneself surely affects the psychology of a person, and they become prone to violence themselves. This leads to more violence and the cycle repeats. Now imagine this happening over decades, and you can figure out the damage.
The solution for this is not easy. We must start inculcating the values of tolerance in the youth, and such courses must be made a mandatory part of the curriculum. Fixing just the justice system won’t help. The brains of the citizens need to rewired. We must hammer the idea in the heads of the people from childhood that violence is never the answer, and we must keep them away from violence. For the latter, we must increase the number of psychological health professionals, so that becoming a witness to violent acts doesn’t drag one into the vicious cycle of violence.
Written by Arbaaz Khan | Lahore
