Posted: Sat, 01 Oct 2011
by Orya Maqbool Jan
The scared, petrified and the wary, walking a thin line of personal
interests, even if they get together, they should not be expected of
any talk on dignity, pride and respect. Such collective declarations
are produced when such happens.
And such language they use for their masters. 'You are so gracious'.
'We want to live in peace'. 'Why do you blame us'. 'We have done
nothing like this'. If the masters are displeased then the blame is
put on each other. "You must have done something that the lord is not
appeased". I know because of your mistakes we have to see this day.
Life of such goodness was being spent. Bread and butter came with
"respect". The children were being educated in reputable universities.
We were employed. We owned houses and business there. What was the
need of starting this feud? You destroyed everything. It takes ten
years to appease the masters, in the process we have to bear the grunt
of the people, listen to being called undignified from every street
and corner, listen to a hundred of theirs and not a word we can say.
What do you get? You want to destroy this country? You have rubbished
this country.
This talk and language is of those who do not own a single penny, a
single square inch of land in this country and none of their children
or personal interests are related to this country. Their property and
business are mortgaged against loans and loans are from the savings of
sweat and blood of the poor. Their children are leading a safe life in
the country of their masters. In the day they collect wealth and their
nights are in extravagance. Their businesses are outside their
country, and those which are here, have investments from the poor of
the country which was deposited in banks.
If their skin is scratched, breathing is disturbed, heartbeats not
right, kidneys refuse to work, they never choose to lie with the
common man in the hospitals. The smell of the rooms, beds, doctors,
nurses and instruments irks them. Even a small routine check-up takes
place in the hospitals of their master's country. If the bills that
have been paid by this poor nation for expenses to their treatment in
a foreign country is transmitted by the health department on the
television it will leave us shocked and spell bound. Now they are
beyond this. Earn so much that the need of taking from the government
does not arise. Their example is that of this loathsome joke that I am
presenting cloaked in civility.
A thanedar had a bad eye on the wife of a poor desolate singer. The
singer wary of it, scared and horrified, tried his best not to
confront his wife with the thanedar. Whenever he looked at his wife,
he was angry at her, if she was not there he would have been at peace,
the thanedar is always bursting at him without any reason, calls him
and scolds him for no reason. One day the singer came how, the wife
told him in a proud tone that the thanedar came home today with bad
intentions. I judged it at once. When he knocked the door, I opened
the door slightly. He tried to get in by force. I being a weak woman,
with presence of mind, using all my strength closed the door and
locked it. The singer heard her story with concentration and could
picture the angry face of the thanedar in his mind; he could imagine
the anger and wrath of the thanedar. The wife after narrating the
story looked at the husband expecting acclaim. He slapped her face and
said "You undignified woman. We would have been dead if thanedars hand
would have been injured. He could have lodged a complaint against both
of us".
Dignity, honour, and respect have no relation with wealth and
resources, and neither with poverty and scarcity. They are found
amongst the poorest and sometimes disappear from the house of the
resourceful and the wealthy. But history is very cruel. It never saved
the name of any person, any nation or any leader with respect and
pride, who preferred luxury and extravagance over honour and dignity.
A similar situation was faced by Israel. At that time Golda Meir was
the Prime minister. The parliament of Israel in one instance opposed
the acquisition of weapons for the defense of Israel. And said that
our economic condition does not allow us this much defense spending.
On the other side Golda Meir was negotiating with the defense
contractors and she has made the decision against the parliament.
After which Israel had defeated and humiliated the whole of Arab
world. Golda Meir was asked by a journalist about her decision, she
said
"I thought about it a lot and came to the conclusion that history is
not concerned whether the people of the nation eat an egg in the
breakfast or a toast with or without jam. History only differentiates
between the dignified and the non-dignified, the victorious and the
defeated".
Golda Meir said that she learnt this lesson from the character of the
Prophet (may peace be upon him) of the Muslims. When he passed away,
there was no oil for the lamp in the house. And Syeda Ayesha (May
Allah be pleased with her) borrowed oil from the neighbours to light
the lamp. But he left behind eight swords.
In the history of nation when the night of the retribution is
approaching, and the punishment of their deeds is decided, then my
Allah says
"When We decide to destroy a population, We (first) send a definite
order to those among them who are given the good things of this life
and yet transgress; so that the word is proved true against them: then
(it is) We destroy them utterly" [Quran 17:16].
When the decisions are issued. And the story of destiny is presenting
another picture. Then if all of them get together, not even a drop of
honour can be retrieved. Was their tone the same as that of the 180
million in the streets and corners of my country? Absolutely not! The
dialect of the 180 million is that of a dignified nation. Dialect of
living with pride and dignity, that of dying with honour. There is a
lot of difference between the two. The 180 million have nothing to
lose. But the leaders have 93 Billion to lose, deposited away in
Switzerland. How can both be equal? How can they think the same?
Original Article in Urdu!
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*Shahzad Shameem*
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