An attitude of intolerance and unacceptability needs a shift!

An attitude of intolerance and unacceptability needs a shift!

By: Muhammad Sarfraz Abbasi

A few days back in a television program a renowned anchorperson blamed the supporters of a political party by stating that they were abusing her and some other anchorpersons in various social forums on internet. However, it was strange to see that the anchorperson showed some proves of the comments posted by the “arguably” some supporters of an emerging political party namely, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). The party claims to be the youth’s envoy in the political landscape of the country with the slogan of “change” against the status quo. The leader of this political party is known for his aggressive personality traits. The Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Mr. Imran Khan has also said in quite a few interviews that he was a determined person since his childhood he has always believed in doing something extraordinary in his life. It is a universal truth that the only positively aggressive people can do all that outstanding services which are on the name of Mr. Imran Khan. He was seen many times saying, that doing the things that nobody has done before and turning the dreams into reality is something that makes difference between an ordinary and extraordinary people. In his addresses to the youth, he was seen advising them do not listen anyone once you have decided to something of your choice. In the support of his doctrine he gives the examples of some legendary global leaders, that when they started their journeys they had to face uncountable cruelties, troubles and sacrifices but they never compromised or ended their travel till the time they had not achieved their goals. He is inspire to the achievements of former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, former President of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela and former Prime Minister of Singapore Mr. Lee Kuan Yew. He encourages youth to do something good and big for the country.

Mr. Imran Khan says when he had started his career as a cricketer; experts of this game had declared him an average player out of any big spark. However, since he was a determined and self motivated person, he kept on improving and moving forward and ended up as a champion in 1992 world cup. He further motivate youth by telling them that when he had shared his idea of building up a state-of-the-art cancer hospital many people at that considered it a failed idea which is not going to be materialized. However, he later on he did not only built-up the cancer hospital but also running it successfully and today thousand of cancer patients are getting an expensive cancer treatment free of cost in his hospital Shaukat Khanum Memorial Caner Hospital. Now a day, he is working on the expansion of Namal College which offers high quality education facilities of international standard with the help of international partner, the University of Bradford, UK and the national partner LUMS, Lahore. Due to his matchless services, Mr. Imran Khan is equally liked by people of all age groups however among his follower youth is in majority.

Now coming back to real issue of allegation on the young supporters of PTI, it was said that, since their leader is aggressive they being honest followers show their aggressive behavior and mostly they abuse to many journalists, anchorperson and writers. Here, we should try to understand the real reason behind the allegations on PTI followers especially followers on internet based social forums. The real problem with us Pakistanis is that most of us were either born or grown up during the dictatorship regimes, thus, dictatorship has become a fine trait of our nation. We just don’t believe in public opinion, neither military rulers nor the democratic forces ever gave any respect to the public opinions. We remain worried most of the time on it that, who says what instead of worrying on what is being said and why? The youth of the country which contributes on various issues especially on politics seems aggressive in political discussions are serious about their future.

It is a harsh fact that the youth was never given an opportunity to share their opinion on the political matters with those who were in charge of the most important issues. Now, facebook, twitter and other social forums are being used by the youth as a medium to communicate their opinion. Internet based social media is just not to serve the political objectives of any particular party, person or group rather these forums give an opportunity to contribute on the various issues and contribution of the youth on these forums provide an opportunity to the decision makers to know what people want. The biggest advantage of the internet based social forum is that, everyone can something right or wrong, but it is a contribution which is an inevitable and should be appreciated instead of doing mere a ineffective criticism. Now, people regularly follow political happenings, they hear analysis of various political analysts and they also EXPESS what they think is right and what they believe is wrong.

I strongly believe in it that, it is a big change for a society where policy makers never showed a serious attitude toward youth’s contribution in the political matters which in reality has made the people of this country slaves in their own country. Now, because of these social forums on internet more and more people are coming to the politics directly or indirectly which is a indication of a big change and thus, should be taken seriously. Those who have been ruling the country on the religious, ethnic and other basis could not deliver. These people are now badly worried about their future and simply they can’t digest the unprecedented change taking place in the country. Now those who have been empowered are now seriously worried about their survival on drastically changing political landscape of the country, and this going to be a big time hurdle in their way to grab big positions in the big houses which are symbols of their superiority over others. People now a days talk about a person’s profile, his/her contribution to the nation, his/her past records etc, this makes easy for them to decide to whom the should support or not. Therefore it is the responsibility of the political people, Political Analysts, Journalists, TV anchors,  Social workers and many others to accept this fact that today’s country is a changed country, and everything that is being said or read and shared by the youth has an importance, and it does not make difference we accept it or not. Easy is escape from troubles and difficult is to fight back and prove yourself. Our Politicians, journalists, TV anchorpersons should have the courage to listen to them who face results of the any thing that happens in the country.