End Of The Tether?

There is hardly any day that is free of controversy and conflict resulting in aggravation of the already deeply polarised Pakistani nation. The rising intolerance has created a chaotic atmosphere in the country and it now appears that all quarters directly or indirectly associated with it may have lost control of their protagonists.

The problem however is that such quarters do not have an exit strategy therefore the situation has the potential of getting more complicated. Many rational voices have been advocating restraint but the radical agenda gained ascendance and its reigning supreme now. The situation is fast hurtling towards a stage where no force would be able to decisively rectify matters. This is a sure recipe for letting extraneous forces to follow their respective agenda considered detrimental for Pakistani national interest. Realising the almost hopeless situation many analysts have begun to wonder whether it is the end of tether for the repressed majority of Pakistanis.

The situation has come to a pass that the individual of Pakistan is completely alienated from the social mainstream and there are no ameliorative steps visible. The fear harboured by the state authorities is now palpable and they are not in a position to decisively influence any act of intolerance. The nation has endured decades of almost incessant turmoil and its resilience is bursting at the seams. It is too much to expect that a besieged polity can bear adversity interminably and retain its psychological harmony. Pakistani polity is long recognised as suffering from deep scars of incoherence and the cumulative social behaviour is far from normal.

The time is fast running out for retrieving the situation but there appears to be no sign of rectifying the state of affairs. The only hope probably is the media that shows acute sensitivity and enough sensibility to create a sense of reality and rationality.

The process of Pakistan getting developed as a mature polity is facing failure on many fronts but the intense lack of mutual accommodation is the worst aspect of the whole equation. This imbalance is undermining the positive aspects of this important national exercise and unfortunately no credible solution to this problem is in sight. There are countless instances that portray the distressing impact of this extremely negative tendency on the social structure.

Most worrying part of this intolerant strain unfortunately is that it is gaining in substance in direct proportion to the maturity gained by the society. The danger is that both these strands have the potential of cancelling the impact of each other that may result in long term loss to the national matrix of Pakistan.

It is now recognised that the surest way of inculcating rational sense into the gradually maturing thinking patterns of an individual is education laced with appropriate training. The frequency of unpalatable incidents occurring brings to fore the intense lack of common sense prevailing in the social mores.

It is abundantly clear in one of the most unlikely atrocity and its perpetrators showed no sign of being trained in social chores. Social training begins at home and is undertaken in family circles that keep a check on unwarranted behaviour. It is clearly discernible that the family bonds that worked as the first training environment have lost their influence and it is generally complained that the younger generation considers itself far advanced than the older generations.

The main reason for the growing gulf between rationality and intolerance has placed the younger generation in a dilemma as it has been brainwashed in the most horrendous way. The downward trend in tolerance levels in the country is the direct offshoot of many factors particularly social economic.

The ideal way for raising a new generation should have been to re-emphasise that mutual existence in a tolerant and peaceful atmosphere with local traditions and social practices placed at the forefront of learning and half of the time spent in educational activities should be devoted to social instruction. Such orientation should have begun from the blessings of controlling violent emotions and chanellising the energies of the younger generation for productive purposes.

Youngsters are exuberant and many possess rebellious spirit but it is the duty of the social system and its institutions to keep them within limits of trained behaviour. Pakistan conspicuously and consistently lacks this requirement on a flimsy pretext that they give rise to rowdy behaviour and negatively affect the learning process.

While insisting on this argument it is conveniently ignored that the consistent falling standards of behaviour is slowly eating into the national behaviour and conduct.

Unfortunately the corporate sector is proving all the more rowdy as its supervisory cadres are kept under pressure by the untrained and unchecked lower level of employees. This unfortunate state of affairs has resulted in the falling levels of national productivity.