THE things that distinguish humans from animals are discipline, development and civilised behaviour. Moreover, humans can think and distinguish between right and wrong, good and bad.

The height of this development of modern humans is the history of human consciousness. Humans faced difficulties and hardships, but they thought things out and invented.

Now let us have a look at humans in Pakistan. We are so consciously unconscious that we are unaware of our rights, and those of us who are aware do not want to talk about such stuff.

Let me give you an example. A few days ago, I went around to see for myself what people think of the rising inflation. To my surprise, the majority of people were not ready to talk on the matter at all. Despite being a victim of the unprecedented inflation, they argued, why they should talk on the issue.

The mental retardation of our youth is even astonishing and pitiable. A year or two ago, I came across a video clip in which a group of youngsters were proudly rubbing lime on the photo of a famous Pakistani scientist because of the man’s religious beliefs. This is the level of intellect of our youth.

If you ever talk to the supporters of the ruling party about this back-breaking inflation, they defend everything, which might be understandable, but what is just not understandable is their arrogance while defending the seriously indefensible. The poor is going poorer by the day, but that is not their concern.

The plight of Sindh, where a political party is in power for the last 13 years, is known to everyone. But even then people consider the provincial legislators ‘kings’ as if we have a kingdom, not a democracy.

We have become intellectually bankrupt. We have closed our minds about new ideas and ideologies. We have no room for an opposing argument. We have no tolerance for a view that is different from ‘our’ view.

I think the reason for this intellectual bankruptcy is the lack of study and education. The social media has influenced the public so much, but, at the same time, it has also pushed the masses towards negativity. There is a need for awareness among people so that they may be educated about their rights.

Revolutions are not brought only by a small group of people; they are backed by the power of a nation. The development of nations has always depended on trained leaders with a high level of intellect.

We have to go through basic training to form a group. Awareness and national thinking must be awakened in the youth and they must be intellectually nurtured, which will lead to a successful leadership.

It is our duty to reveal to every member of society the secret of how important it is to strive to bring our knowledge to the level of awareness.

And attaining awareness is possible only when we are concerned about it.

Babar Ali
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2021