Huma Yusuf - Death of dialogue
LAST week, Khalid Hameed, head of the English department at Bahawalpur’s
Government Sadiq Egerton College, was stabbed to death by his
student who accused him of promoting un-Islamic activities (a mixed welcome
gathering). After the shocking incident, opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif said
that the fatal consequences of the difference of opinion should lead to a moment
of national reflection. But you cannot reflect
if you don’t know how to reason. Reasoning is a form of internal debate. It is
a discursive practice that requires acknowledging and accommodating dissenting
views. And this practice, of recognising, respecting and perhaps reconciling
differing opinions, is something that Pakistanis have forgotten how to do.
They are no longer
taught to think critically, they are no longer allowed to speak freely, and
their political representatives no long engage in debate, so how can we expect
better? We now live in a time so alienated from the concept and value of
meaningful dialogue, that even a flicker of disagreement or dissent creates
such profound unease that it provokes accusations of treason or blasphemy, all
too often used to justify death.
Tragically, Hameed’s
murder is not unprecedented. It has echoes of governor Salmaan Taseer’s killing, as the
student who opted for murder as an expression of disagreement dismissed the
judicial system for ‘freeing blasphemers’. Rather than learn lessons over the
past decade, we have simply mainstreamed hate, extremism and the practice of
taking the law into one’s own hands. You cannot reflect
if you don’t know how to reason. It was also not the
only incident last week that highlighted that dialogue is dead in Pakistan. The
sentencing to life imprisonment of two more accused in Mashal Khan’s killing
was a reminder how that outspoken young man who sought to champion students’
rights was silenced through false blasphemy accusations and lynching, rather
than debate...
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