By Gulzar Ahmad
The current remarkable let up in suicide bombings across the country as a result of ongoing military operation in the tribal belt of Waziristan has ‘overtly’ created an illusion that the use of force is durable in purging society from the evils of militancy and insurgency that continues to haunt the state of Pakistan from the very outset.
It goes without saying that human beings are in perpetual conflict with mouse specie since the dawn of humanity. This may sound hilarious but it implies far-reaching lessons for the entire rational-beings on the earth. As a matter of fact, human beings regard a mouse as a deadly enemy on account of harming their garments, books, documents, edible things and most notably in some instances, spread chronic diseases like plague in human circles, claiming hundreds and thousands of lives. In response to that, man has so far resorted to every tactic and technique to get rid of the problematic mouse. Funnily enough, its meat is eaten up in some countries across Asia, Africa and the Caribbean quite relishing-ly and prepared quite tastefully.
As a matter of fact, in this lingering bilateral clash, one side is endowed with wisdom, physical strength and plethora of other facilities of life to safeguard and even luxuriate its lifestyle, while the other side is devoid of everything except with a weapon of sharp teeth and claws. It may appear as a one-sided contest at face value but looking at it at closer range, the resourceful creature is more harassed than the resource-less one. It clearly indicates that contemporary wisdom-beings fail to infer positive lessons about their abortive attempts to control such a tiny creature that continues to unnerve the well-equipped modern man.
My contention is that if a mouse is blessed with the power to communicate its feelings rationally, it would presumably reproach man over its inability to overcome, at the very least, the teasing mouse tendencies through warfare. This physically tiny, materially and rationally deficient creature will unveil human delusion to surmount over disputes by the use of hands and feet rather than mind. It surely will prick the conscience of the rational-beings by firing the following bullets of highly insightful utterance.
Despite being bestowed with all the resources of the world O Lord of the creatures! You fail to suppress even an animal that is smaller manifolds to that of your size and wholly incompatible to your rationale. If you fail to understand the assertion that disputes are settled among us (animals) through fighting wars, because it suits us and our state of affairs, then your claim of rational being loses moral and ethical ground. As a matter of fact “survival of the fittest” is an animalistic norm rather for humans to compete in the theater of vicious and irrational struggle for power. Men conflicts have never been resolved in the battlefields. History stands a valid witness to it. If you peep into the previous century, it will unequivocally be observed that the previous hundred years brought unimaginable and incalculable human loss even though the 20th century man who already had the know-how of the severity and the gravity of wars, was more prudent and diplomatic then generations before. First World War, Second World War, cold war and bundles of other regional and local wars like Korean War, Vietnam war, Afghan war and other periodic local border skirmishes ushered in nothing but a resounding human catastrophe. Even though, you might have achieved some victories out of the ashes of conflicts but those if looked into judiciously can rightly be tagged as pyrrhic victories (victory as bad as a defeat)
O super creature! If you are yet to learn something good out of your self-spawned devastation then you don’t have the right to claim dominance over the universe but if not then you don’t need to claim dominance. O scholars, researchers, policy makers, teachers, students and all those who claim to be rational! “Don’t you have a well-thought out plan to rise above disputes other than fighting wars and flexing muscles?
Such a mind blowing assertion of the mouse indisputably jolts the brain to think and prods the brawn to act accordingly. Currently, Pakistan presents the spectacle that portrays a Hobbesian world view i.e. everybody fighting with every other body and militancy is getting more firm roots with in its social fabric. One core reason of the longstanding turmoil and conflicts in the country could be the delusive impression that military operations are the sole and decisive solution to the stalemates in the conflict ridden zones like FATA and Baluchistan. Such beguiling tendency attempted to frame euphoria that army operations are worth peace restoring, defies the post-partition history of Pakistan that has once underwent dismemberment as a result of the military operation that proved unviable and hence later on went to foment East Pakistan as a separate state.
State may project itself as in Hegelian perspective ‘the march of God on the earth’ but despite its incessant hegemonic attempts to control insurgencies through the use of force has never substantively come to fruition in the long run. For this reason, some avowed concessions are required in the process so that right, meaningful and practicable lessons can be drawn.
Media in today’s world, characterized by fast communicational linkages, underscores clashes and tussles more excessively than ever before. By portraying the outright success of the ongoing operation Zarb-e-Azb, Media has put a finger on the pulse of significant portion of the population that has developed the image of doom and gloom about these terror-stricken areas. This irredeemably hurts the image of the locals and they are holistically idealized as terrorists and militants. This, by no way suggests that terrorists should not be cut down to size. It rather stresses the need to realize the importance of dealing with this grave issue in political and reconciliatory manner that must involve all the primary stake holders like the local prominent elders and the politicians representing them in the legislative assemblies.
By and large the admonition of human beings by the petty mouse specie to regard the lessons of history may sound insignificant and looked upon indifferently by some sections of the society but after all learning ought not to constrain us from learning something good even if we have to be tutored by an ‘irrational’ creature.
The writer studies at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and can be traced at ahmad.gulzar90@gmail.com