How many times does one have to burn alive for the surroundings to shatter with the piercing screams? Watching a living human ruthlessly sacrificed in the name of something righteous portrayed as demonic. I wonder if it’s anything less than a ritual where we present offerings as repentance of our increasingly sinister deeds. Years ago, while attending a Jamiat camp in Mansoora, I remember being lectured on the evils of the West, how it has invaded our homes through media and culture and corrupted our norms and family system. We were told that to wage war against the Kufaar is the ultimate mission of every Muslim, and that the final crusade between the Ummah and the Kufaar will be led by Pakistani Muslims. I now realize how accurate those prophecies were.
Today, we are on the verge of a mental and moral war between the West and us. We have undeniably traded our best with their worst; for dollars, we have traded our religion, innocent lives, and even our future. The Afghan border is being used for illegal captivity, unofficial and off-the-record arrests and abductions, and exchange of the most wanted. The War on Terrorism, which was pursued to benefit the capitalist mafias and weapon industry, its biggest beneficiary being the USA, Pakistan was the main host to those pests. The second beneficiary, K of SA, poisoned the minds of a whole generation by funding extremist outfits and planting madrassahs. Jamaat-e-Islami, during the Soviet-Afghan war, and later the Jihad in Kashmir brainwashed many young minds, sending them across the Afghan and IOK borders in exchange for Russian and German hi-tech weapons and American dollars. This all, of course, was backed by the deep State itself. The ones killed and burned like a thin piece of paper and their remains buried 6 ft under as a promise of eternal peace in the heavens. We’ve become the visual representation of pulling someone’s leg to touch success without paying heed to the piling corpses beneath our feet who would one day rise to claw at our skins for our acts of tyranny.
Radicalization and cult following don’t happen overnight. It takes years of planned brainwashing and instilling ideologies through religious and political figures, educational curriculum, and Friday sermons. From Bhutto’s 2nd amendment of the Constitution enforced by Zia to the MOU between TLP and PTI’s government, we have traveled a long way back to our destruction. The memories of our freedom are slowly fading as we fall into the clutches of deep-rooted extremism. Voicing opinions which contrast with the local belief is a battle one fights every day. It may come as a surprise if we survive. Otherwise, falsely accused of acts of disrespect towards a holy personality that never occurs to us.
You guessed it right, this article is about a Sri Lankan national who had lived in Pakistan for seven years. Priyantha Kumara isn’t the first to be ruthlessly slaughtered in Sialkot. The two brothers Mughees and Muneeb Butt were killed, hung, and mutilated in the city with the support of local police and Rescue 1122. To ask for justice seems like a ridiculous request when the element of extremism has injected itself into the roots of our contaminated society with shaken beliefs and dying morals.
What happened in Sialkot is proof we are a failed State. When there is no rule of law and religion is used as a tool against the opponents/innocents by both the public and governments, destruction is the only destination.
Each time we set a breathing human ablaze, our ethics and morals burn to ashes with it. Even the ocean hesitates to consume the left ashes of a once-living individual gifted to us by God to respect.
Priyantha’s family appeals for justice as the world witnesses the demise of another family’s core. A protector, a father. The Sialkot tragedy is our collective shame. Our collective failure. Our collective mental and moral regression. But at the same time, a majority of us are in a deep state of shock; devastated, and ashamed. The ray of hope shines yet again as the nation stands to defeat this act of tyranny as one. The top religious scholars of Pakistan have visited the Sri Lankan High Commission to show solidarity against this heinous Sialkot tragedy. The leaders have assured the Sri Lankan Nation that the extremists will be severely punished, along with full responsibility of Priyantha’s family.
Furthermore, Mufti Taqi Usmani declared Friday as condemnation day and followed as announced. Corps Commanders and above all, the Pakistani Government held an event in the memory of Priyantha Kumara in which the Prime Minister promised justice. Our heartfelt prayers go out to Priyantha’s family. Pakistan won’t stay silent and justice will be served.
