Suicide bombers in making

We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary. (Malcolm X)

 
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25, passed unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in December 1948 may sound like a cruel joke to all but a negligible number of 170 million Pakistanis struggling to survive a totally corrupt, inhumane exploitive elitist system designed exclusively to protect the interests of the ruling class at all cost and force might no matter how excessive, inhumane and ruthless it may be.

The Declaration reads: “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood.”

Adequate standard of living, necessary social services? Food, clothing, housing and medical care? Right to security against unemployment, sickness, disability, old age? The words don’t seem to mean a thing to neither to ruthlessly exploited masses nor the most indifferent rulers in our part of the world.

 
Politics, it is said, has no heart. In our part of the world it also does not have brain, conscience, compassion, humanity or any thing fine. Just watch the merry-go-round with total indifference to suicides that have become epidemic and you realize that this indifference on the part of our rulers, politicians, bureaucracy, policy makers and administration is total. Forget about taking responsibility or remedy- the policy makers don’t even want to acknowledge the problem.
Data compiled by Madadgaar Helpline; a NGO offering moral and financial support, referral service , legal help and free legal aid to women and children victims of violence, show that increasing numbers of Pakistanis are opting to end their lives themselves instead of living anymore in an elitist society that now don’t even offer them the slughtest ray of hope. The withering of hope, that fuels every single human activity, is a horrific phenomenon indeed the repercussions of which have to be borne by us collectively.

Never before in our 62-year history- checkered and anti-people, anti-law, pro-establishment as its is- there has been such an enmasse wave of suicide. The grotesque scenario exposes the criminal negligence of our policy makers to address a social problem that has eradicated the faintest ray of hope for the majority of our population ruled (read misruled and abused) by a few.

Isn’t it high time for our ruling elite, callous as they are, to realize the ugly consequences of pushing the suiciders of to become suicide bombers of tomorrow. Just how much insult, exploitation and dehumanizaion can one tolerate? The ruling elite must fear the day when the hopeless masses committing suicide en masse today decide to take “revenge” from the persons responsible, real or perceived, for their miserable existence.

 
The anti-poor and thickly pro-rich policies of the successive governments have made suicide the only option for increasing number of people that see no hope in living any more. Un-nerving and national catastrophic as it is the policy makers choose to remain totally indifferent to the phenomenon simply because it’s not their problem. However, the cost of their indifference would have to be borne by their successors in the future with horrendous payback.

 
Here are the depressing statistics. From January 2000 to June 2008 26,376 cases of suicide were reported nationwide- 2,726 in 2000; 2,735 in 2001; 2,676 in 2002; 4,015 in 2003; 3,903 in 2004; 3,872 in 2005; 2,458 in 2006; 2,926 in 2007 and 1,065 during the first half of 2008. This massive suicide spree cost 14,551 men, 8,960 women and shameful as it is 2,865 children their lives in a land where rulers, and even ordinary so-called peoples’ representatives, live in luxury that could shame the leaders of the most developed and powerful nations on the earth.

Punjab topped the ignominious suicide list with 14,472 followed by Sindh with 9,623, 1,656 in NWFP and 625 in Balochistan. According to Madadgaar that number of suicides committed in NWFP and Balochistan could had been much higher because few cases of this nature are brought into limelight from these two provinces compared to Punjab and Sindh where most number of such cases are duly reported.

It may shock many to realize that in 2007 more suicides were reported in comparatively smaller cities compared to Karachi, the economic, financial and trading hub of the country. Lahore, the second largest city lead the ignominious list with 987 reported cases of suicide followed by Multan with 786, Gujranwala 94, Karachi 63, Peshawar 60, Faisalabad 58, Khairpur 45, Sukkur 38, Hyderabad 36, Islamabad 28, Rawalpindi 27, Tando Adam 22, Larkana 17 and Dadu 15.
What’s makes these statistics even more horrifying is that only a fraction of suicide cases, like all other types of crimes, get reported in media which simply means actual figures are much more higher.

Would it dent the peaceful composure of our policy makers? I don’t think it would or could even slightly dent the individual or collective conscience of a aristocracy which has become used to maintain its luxurious lifestyle at the sweat and blood of the people.

Things would definitely change. Lets see if the ruling elite class of this country let the change come peacefully or would it be otherwise.