Adil Najam
This picture is of PIA employees in a violent fist fight (haatha-paee) at Karachi airport during a strike by PIA employees. The strike, its reasons, the political economy that led to it, the state of the national airline, and the politics that surround it are all important topics and all worthy of discussion. So is this picture as a picture.
At one level the context of this picture matters little. It is a representation of an angst and an anger that has now become a national disease. It is a representation of an anger that we see around us everywhere – and all the time. Anger is a natural and normal phenomenon. But there is nothing natural and nothing normal about the level of anger that seethes in our society. Indeed, within all of us. An anger you see here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. Indeed, you cn see it on display all over our comments section.
The first step in anger management, we are told, is to recognize that one has a problem. Let us begin, please, by doing just that!
More comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “Anger it’s is national disease, but not only that in the future this nation gonna become a cannibal (aadam khuer) disease. It’s very sad to say that & time is not that far away. My teacher Ms. Foster told me 30 years ago.
God bless PAKISTAN.”
– “…….whole nation has become aadam khore jaanwar …have no tolerance for each others …….anger is a culture there …………..in this situation what kind of human we will produce in our society…………..so shamefull”
– “This haath paaee is our national disease.. To say someone wrong and I am right,,, This is quite wrong”
Anger is merely a symptom of the disease and not the disease itself.
In a way this may be the toughest post you have written. Because you have raised a mirror to society and people do not like what they see so they lash out at you. I remember long ago there was a post you write when people in Karachi burned two people who they thought were robbers. It was similar to this about anger. Instead of feeling shocked, people in comments started defending the action. Just as they are defending violence and anger now. Of course, they have to because they see this abnormal behavior in themselves. Then later the Sialkot incident happened and two young men were hanged. Now, everyone was aghast and so surprised. I wondered why. The same people who were ‘defending’ anger as ‘legitimate’ were now crying crocodile tears for what their anger had landed us in.
“Anger is a National Disease”
If the Nation contains the common people, then I will say that the “Patience is a National Disease” and the Anger is its remedy.
It is because of the patience that Pakistan is advancing towards more and more of undemocratic system of government. It is because of the patience of the Nation that the leaders and the rulers are more and more corrupt. It is because of the patience of the people that Army is independent of the Nation and the Nation is controlled by Army. Any Nation has an Army. In Pakistan the Army has a Nation.
The Anger of the people is the only remedy to reverse the situation. But this Anger should not be soft fist-fight between the two citizens. It should be real Anger which is called a “Revolt”.
“Anger is a National Remedy”
AHsn
Anger has become a national disease because of the circumstances. As a Pakistani National, one is exploited at almost every step. There is distress and frustration every where. The person who have the Government resources are striving hard to make use of all these for their own selves and so the common Pakistani is lacking even the basic necessities.