by Aisha Aijaz

So, you belong to The Ghairat Brigade, and you know exactly why! It hurts you, when you hear a bad news about Pakistan or the Islamic world and you have a very narrow mind-set which is not evolving with the ‘changing world’. You weigh everything ‘unnecessarily’ against morals, values, traditions and faith. How boring and dry! You try to look for a conspiracy theory behind everything that goes bizarre. How schizophrenic! You are so blinded by your love for roots, religion and the word of God and the Prophet (SAW) that you cannot see the benefits that could come your way if you keep saying ‘YES’ to your ‘masters’ and blindly follow their path. How unrealistic!The Ghairat Brigade, a newly invented term which groups all ‘old-fashioned, conservative-minded, grumpy lot’, has become a favourite style of blogs and articles discussing almost all the painful issues of the country. Thanks to media which is actually getting a perfect price for dividing the nation into ‘backwards’, ‘liberals’ and the ‘enlightened moderates’. I’d list only a few stories out of the news.

The civil society, the dollar-funded NGOs, human right activists and the so called liberal bunch is remarkably quiet on Raymond Davis issue and the the suicide of Shumaila Faheem. In one of the many talk shows discussing him and his crime, one of the very prominent human right activists Ms Farzana Bari had actually got no point to discuss, for or against this CIA agent. She found nothing to be ferocious about, as the murderer was an American and not an Imam of a Masjid.

The Ghairat Brigade talks about torture and pain of Aafia Siddiqui, her unjust handing over to the US and illegal detention of her children and gets labelled by the liberals as ‘The Aafia Mafia’.
They feel ashamed when they are reminded of Mullah Zaeef, who was a diplomat and who did have immunity under Vienna convention. He was not a murderer of innocent Pakistanis (unlike Mr Davis) but was beaten brutally before being flown to Guantanamo Bay.

They shout loud when innocent civilians are killed as ‘inevitable collateral damage’ in their very own homeland and the sovereignty of the state is attacked. They consider ‘Laal Masjid’ massacre as mishandling of the issue, not justified by any law and carried out just to please the masters.

The Ghairat Brigade feels the pain when fellow brothers are killed and attacked on an aid ship called Mavi Marmara where peace activists are shown as ‘terrorists’. Their nights go sleepless when they see the most horrifying images from Abu Ghraib prison, which show the most inhumane crimes of US soldiers against their helpless preys. They are then labelled as ‘Thaykaydaars of the Ummah’.

They hit the streets when the world calls ‘drawing of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)’ in most indecent fashion, as ‘freedom of speech’.

And, guess what! The liberal lot stays stunningly quiet!

When the Ghairat Brigade talks about existence and multiplication of American security contractors in Islamabad, and now all over the country, they are labelled as paranoid, unnecessarily hunting for conspiracy theories behind the unrest. But when the western journalists talk about same theories, now turning into realities, the liberals rather prefer to talk about something else.

While the Ghairat Brigade moans about the disintegration of moral fabric of the society, the liberals make Veena Malik a ‘National Hero’ and celebrate ‘party culture’ of Valentine’s day and New year’s night more than it’s celebrated anywhere in the West.

So, is the world really changing or is it just an illusion, hyped up by the media, controlled and influenced by a handful of ‘enlightened moderates’? I am sure the majority in Pakistan wants to change the sickening situation of the country by reviving tradition, values, religion and of course, ‘Qoumi ghairat’. But the silence of such people, who can really bring about the change and snatch back the sovereignty and national dignity, is utterly criminal. I firmly believe that conspiracy theories have existed since the time of origin of mankind. But, they only become successful if you are mute or weak enough to create room for them. So, again, the problem needs mending at home.

Chashm e num jaan e shoreeda kaafi nahin
Tohmat e ishq posheeda kaafi nahin
Aaj bazaar main pa ba jaulan chalo..

Mourning and lamenting would not help changing the current state. If you believe in something, stand for it. Surely, the people equally responsible for this hype are ‘the silent majority’. I quote George Orwell,

‘During the time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act’.

By the way, could someone please find me an antonym dictionary? I need to look for the opposite of the term ‘The Ghairat Brigade’..

Aisha Aijaz is a medical doctor, currently in UK for specialty training. She writes about Pakistan politics and current affairs and likes to read Urdu poetry. She can be reached at aisha[at]mybitforchange.org

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