Only Social Justice Can Put the Situation On the Mend

A voice, no matter what a passive and meek it is and whether it will break the ice or will cross the thick walls to get heard on the other side in the most powerful and influential ‘houses’ or not? The voice came from not anywhere else but within one of the powerful ‘houses.’ Yes, from the prime minister Sayed Yusuf Raza Gilani. God Knows why he has chosen to utter such a great truth when he said that not a hundred military operation would work to bring our troubles and tumults to their end until we assure social justice to the people of the country? We are in multi-facet plight, in a economic, administrative, social turmoil and chaos, encircled by internal conflicts and hostilities. All the troubles have their roots in our failure to assure justice, respect and equality to all the citizens of the state.

Social and economic gap between different classes has gradually got widened and gulf between privileged and unprivileged groups of society has grown too great to be easily bridged. The rich, divesting themselves of the responsibilities to work for a good change in life condition of the deprived people. Their selfishness, dishonesty, opportunism, their lust for the power and wealth, their plunders caused a lava of hatred and revenge under the surface on the point of eruption. They kept and many of them are still having a carefree attitude that the fire of ill sentiments burning in the cottages of the poor is too far away from their castles to disturb their dreams. Now the same fire has started blazing out of control and its heat is felt not only in the drawing rooms but in their luxurious bedrooms too. Now among the same downtrodden people there are who have got up agitating and the rulers, instead of addressing the long-lasting issues by some wise policies, have resorted to give them powerful tranquillizers of military operations.

They have been not only unjust and hard-hearted but with their material and political manipulating power they successfully keep the entire system of justice in shackles. They are always busy in foxy game of denying the open facts. Their cunning stances are tissues of lies and fabrication. They make promises just to break them like toys. Now what is happening in NWFP, FATA, Balochistan is a chain reaction by those who have been wronged and aggrieved for decades in an unjust political, economic and social environment. Restlessness is seen everywhere and the reason is the same.

This country came into existence as a great ‘GIFT’ of ALLAH, the Exalted. One hundred million Muslims of sub-continent India stood behind the demand for a free and self sovereign homeland of their own and it was when the leaders of Pakistan Movement pledged to make this country a practical laboratory of Islam. When they committed that Pakistan would be a place not only of verdant, productive and fertile fields but the land with the motto of brotherhood, love, peace, sympathy and mutual cooperation also. Living under the dominant Hindu majority the Muslim community was immensely in thirst of Adl (Justice).

Justice is one of the greatest factor to enhance the speed of prosperity and to ensure a successful future of the people. Justice elevates the spirit of working hard, aspires the talents, promotes the creativity and encourages the productivity. Destructive inclinations can get rectified only with assurance of justice. What we are suffering now is the result of absence of justice. Keeping tight rein on social evils became difficult because we could not establish a healthy system on the basis of Islamic concept of justice. Moral diseases of venality, avarice and corruption at every level is the result of denying justice. Wrongs affected whole of our collective body because we failed to redress them through provision of social justice. Justice is not the name of only a good judicial structure for timely and perfect decisions to settle the disputes in the courts. It has to be manifest when we are at traffic signal, queue up in shopping stores and booking offices, on the counters of post offices, banks, custom and immigration counters on air ports, when we take seats in public transport, on entering or leave our work places and when we speak in a meetings. These are the spots and occasions where MNAs, MPAs, senators, feudal lords, bureaucrats and the dignitaries of ruling elite very frequently kill the justice. Preferential treatment with some and reviling others at any stage is negation of justice.

Justice is actually a moral code, a social value, a collective conduct and behavioral hallmark having its roots in the Belief and conscience of man. It means to provide every citizen of the country equal opportunities and no inequity and favoritism should work when facilities and provisions of basic needs are offered by the state for the good of its people. All should have equal chances of living a respectable life. All the members of the community should have equal status in the eyes of law. All should have surety of protection from any assault on life, property and honor. Basic sustenance, education, health and peace is the need of every citizen and the system assuring social justice is responsible to provide all of these needs without any discrimination of race, caste, color, language, lawful profession and faith. No one should remain deprived of food to eat, clothes to wear, accommodation to live and medicine to get cured. Life, property and honor of all the persons of the society, and not only of some privileged classes should equally be regarded inviolable and honoured.

Unfortunately no evidence of justice, moral values and unbigoted political system has tangibly supported the claims made by the leaders of the Pakistan Movement about why this country was going to be founded. Bigotry, injustice, plundering and creation of highly privileged and greatly deprived classes caused the plight.