Human rights. Freedom of expression. Democracy. These are the cleverest labels for crafting false as true and vice versa. While the political elite are discussed and torn apart regularly, as they should be, little discourse is done on the covert glorifiers of the twisted, tainted, powerfuls in the country.
They are the real agents of protecting the wrongdoers. They make the illegal legal, the criminal the victims, the autocrats the democrats. These include the extremely civil of the civil society, the extremely well read of the intellectuals, the extremely noble of the respected professionals. They are the faces of social civility, righteousness and respectability. That is why they are so influential and thus powerful as this very image makes them form opinions, narratives, rules and laws that can make any right, wrong.
Those belonging to intellectual and professional elite are more dangerous than those who represent the social or political elite.
Not all, but some are genuine con intellects. They are the fully loaded CV individuals. Grads from ivy schools, fellowships of top think tanks, authors of international publications they are trophy civil society members. They claim to be liberals, fighting for the human rights and presenting the modern view point to the world. With such credentials, they are almost criticism proof. They have a strong voice domestically and internationally. Exposing them and their reality is termed an attack on “freedom of expression” and bringing them under the rule of law as “denial of basic human rights and fascism”. Why are such people not caught or castigated the way politicians are done is because of the following:
Counterfeiting integrity— The blatant wrongdoers like many politicians are easy to catch and berate. The more dangerous are the people who are fake copies of upright characters. These will be the “honourable members” of civil society. They will talk about human rights and fight for democracy. At the same time they will take all favours from all governments and in return defend their criminality to death.
Exploiting ignorance— One of the reasons the fake characters are not revealed is due to the lack of education and awareness in our country. These civil society members with agendas have a voice and weight. They are promoted by the status quo groups. They operate in Whatsapp groups of influential people. The ‘who’s who’ groups include the rich and the famous. They create deliberate debates and pass judgements on anything that does not suit them. The biggest example of this was the introduction of Single National Curriculum. There was an absolute uproar on how it will kill education in Pakistan. Eminent educationists and writers all would spend endless hours on groups to prove the disaster in waiting. Admittedly, there were many flaws in it, as would be in any new innovation. On a closer analysis the extraordinary din created was mainly by the elite private school owners, publishing houses and affiliated business owners. Unfortunately, very few could respond to this seemingly logical attack by this elite group as most people did not have the background or courage to take them on.
Organized fibbing— The art of lying and that too intelligently and systematically has risen to new levels. The web of lies is kneaded by cut-and-paste facts, weaved into audios and videos and packaged through affidavits of ‘authentic’ people.
These “pillars” of our society have damaged the repute of the genuine civil society members. They are actually pillars of anybody who can give them concessions, write offs, highflying posts, and unlimited perks. Some of them become advisors, ambassadors, Chairmen, ministers and the minute that is taken away they become the “neutral” critics fighting for democracy and human rights. This ruse, pretense, act, drama, must be exposed by:
Lifestyle exposé— While politicians must be exposed through their asset and lifestyle, so must other influential sectors. In the media we have seen people who could barely own a two wheeler fly Cessnas. In judiciary we have seen mass accumulation of foreign assets who nobody dare question. The tragic part is that the judiciary themselves have given an order of being unaccountable. In the armed forces we have seen a plethora of companies and businesses that are a mystery. It is recommended that a consumer watch group be formed that exposes the glorifiers of corruption and crime in not just politics but all categories by questioning their lifestyle and creating a list of ‘Hall of Shame’.
Educating public— Perhaps the biggest check on such befoolery by the “learned and the mighty” is to make people educated to see through this intellectual hypocrisy and corruption. This requires use of “Naqqalon se hoshiar” (beware of fake/copies) campaign on social media. An example of this is the viral video of 6 year old student in a school saying Boris Johnson deceived the public about his attending a party in lockdown and so has no right to remain PM. Such awareness videos on all influential elite are mandatory.
Decartelization lobbies— It is sad that a bar association is now preparing a case to fight against lifetime disqualification clause of the constitution. This is such a blatant example of perpetuating the protection of the powerful. This is a clear Nawaz Sharif-centric move under the “human rights” plea. The bar association’s objectives are to “uphold the rule of law and the cause of justice and protect and promote the interest of the legal profession as well as that of the public.” They are doing the opposite. There are a million human rights of the ordinary public they should be fighting for right away. Cutting down time for case judgements for masses, doing away with better class jails for the rich, providing speedy legal aid to the poor, etc., are all screaming needs. Is ordinary man less of a human and thus his rights do not count? Are these associations just for the privileged?
The politicians have been laid bare and should be exposed more. But it is these super CVed, learned, logical influential glorifiers of the corrupt that need to be challenged and stripped of the veneer of morality and respectability. As Noam Chomsky said “Moral cowardice and intellectual corruption are natural concomitants of unchallenged privilege”.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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