Recovery Of The Lost Torch Is Must

Lofty ideals, golden principles and high moral values are the set standards for human greatness, guaranteeing peace, integrity and prosperity to all vibrant societies. Loss of this ‘Aab-e-Hayaat’ is the loss of every life-giving factor. When these specifications are mislaid a rapid lowering of humane marks starts leading the people to the selfishness and avariciousness. The more the glitter of these hallmarks is lost the more lowness of mind and character appears in every class of the society. Both the leaders and their followers run after the cheap objectives. Greed for wealth creates lust for power to protect the interests. Different misled groups rise with corrupt leadership. Politics becomes an arena of such groups to achieve their materialistic gains. Such wicked political elements cast their covetous eyes on national resources and lust for power becomes a need to protect the plundered money. Hence, the avidity for the power urges to exploit all the means, no matter how unfair they are, to reach the peak of the power. Track of foxiness, falsehood and deception is taken to reach the goal.

We, the people of Pakistan, after having lost the torch of our ideological and moral traits, are clumsily groping in the dark something or someone leading us to our destination. The brigands come up with the claims to be our leaders making us subject to their evil designs. And we get ready to try these ideologically tattered and morally low-minded elements in our politics, already have been put to test and failed in coming up with any solution to the national problems. We thrush our hand in the same holes from where we have already been stung, and it is perhaps due to lack of insight and weakness of our belief.

The leaders and the workers of the religious parties have never claimed and have never been regarded to be the angels. Particularly in current era their thinking them role models is nothing but a delusion. Their policies and lines of action seem to be immensely in short of sagacity and shrewdness. But still their cloaks have extremely less stains of corruption than waistcoats and three pieces suits of the modern secular minded politicians keeping the city in their grip. When JI and JUP had their influence in Karachi the city was much more in peace and was a flourishing financial, educational and cultural hub. It was really a peaceful habitat of a number of prominent religious scholars, poets, writers, educationists and intellectuals. It had accommodated very rich industrialists and Sindhi ‘vaderahs’ and also thousands of poor from all over the country. Political and ideological diversities were not a matter of a clash harming each other. Variant attitudes did have at least one common thing and that was tolerance and respect. But since the rise of an overwhelming secular and ethnic element, the city suffered the loss of harmony and pacification.

The tragedy is not limited only to the largest city of our country. Unluckily entire nation is suffering the problem of inefficient and selfish leadership, mostly unconcerned about the grievances of the people. The latest example is a foreign tour of the president leaving the millions of the people in the tribulation of the worst floods of our history and dozens subject to the daily target killing in Karachi. He preferred to travel to France and England to settle the issues of his luxury palaces there, hobnobs with the leaders of those countries and going for lavish shopping with his children from royal shopping malls of London and Paris while millions of the flood afflicted people are longed for morsels of bread in the country. This purposeless trip cost worth millions of dollars, not going from his pocket but from the treasury of the poor and disaster hit nation. All the three leaders of the ruling alliance in the center (each of them struggling to have full hold over Karachi) Zardari, Asfand Yar Wali and Altaf Hussain, remained out while the people of almost all the four provinces including Azad Kashmir and Malakand Division are facing the worst of their misfortune. Maulana Fazlurehman left for Umrah (Saudi Arabia has also giant shopping centers).

Now where to find lofty ideas, golden principles and high moral values? Our bad luck! While the lowest standard of the leadership is our own choice it means we, ourselves, chosen a collective moral and spiritual demise for us. ‘Khud Kardah Ra Ilaje Neest’. We, ourselves, have lost our ideological and moral torch. Now, we will have to grope in the dark until we find the lost torch otherwise the brigands will keep on misleading us to the worst and there will be no end to our miseries.