“You must never lose your sense of shame.
asserted
You → lose → shame
One lives like a bird in moult, shedding virtues like plumes all pointing down to hell” — Wolfram von Eschenbach (German poet.)
asserted
One → live → hell
But I am reminded of it every time I read in the news about how one judge or the other has, again, successfully continued Imaan Mazari and Hadi Chattha’s perverse incarceration.
asserted
judge → remind → incarceration
The novel Shame presents another take on the idea.
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novel → present → idea
While acknowledging its necessity, it argues shame is never truly lost.
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shame → acknowledge → necessity
It is suppressed, it is unacknowledged, it is transferred to others, but it invariably re-emerges, nay erupts, mutated into manifestations of violence and tyranny throughout society.
asserted
it → suppress → society
Surviving in Pakistan (but, more specifically, thriving in Pakistan) demands the suppression of shame.
asserted
Surviving → survive → shame
Being more fortunate, we suppress the shame of a cruel and rapacious system built to profit the powerful by exploiting the powerless.
asserted
we → suppress → powerless
As Muslims, we suppress our shame at how we steadily criminalise the very existence of our minorities and force them to leap through ever-higher hoops to earn their right to live.
asserted
we → suppress → right
As citizens, we suppress the shame of a state that has long abandoned any pretence to being representative and casually disappears dissidents.
asserted
that → suppress → dissidents
As lawyers, we suppress the shame of a legal system indifferent to justice and riddled with cowardice and venality.
asserted
we → suppress → cowardice
We suppress the shame, not only from fear of the consequences of speaking or acting, but so we can live with ourselves.
asserted
we → suppress → ourselves
There are a few, however, who feel the sting of shame more sharply.
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who → be → shame
They speak, and act, while we watch.
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we → speak → ?
They carry the burden of our collective shame and expiate it.
asserted
They → carry → it
There are a few who carry the burden of our collective shame and expiate it.
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who → be → it
Imaan and Hadi belong on that list.
asserted
Imaan → belong → list
One might not subscribe to all their opinions.
uncertain
One → subscribe → opinions
One might think them misguided in some of the causes they choose to advocate.
uncertain
they → think → causes
And, while ensconced in the quiet safety of one’s living room, one can disagree with their or, more particularly, her manner of articulation.
asserted
one → ensconce → articulation
But while we may not possess the courage to emulate them, do we lack even the shame to admire them?
uncertain
we → possess → them
This January, Judge Afzal Manjoka sentenced the couple to prison for 17 years.
asserted
Manjoka → sentence → years
As per the judgement, Imaan’s crime was sending six tweets.
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crime → send → tweets
In one, she posted a picture of Mahrang Baloch raising a victory sign and encouraged the public to raise their voice against fake encounters, enforced disappearances and killings in Balochistan.
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Baloch → post → Balochistan
In another, she said innocents kept in illegal detention and torture cells were also victims — just like those targeted in terrorist attacks.
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innocents → say → attacks
In a third tweet, she said state repression in Balochistan was making the insurgency worse.
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insurgency → say → Balochistan
In a fourth, she argued that reports about anti-terrorist operations by security officials in Balochistan had lost credibility.
asserted
reports → argue → credibility
In the first, she said “we said never forget but acted like nothing happened.
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nothing → say → first
The terrorist who had our children slaughtered was set free by the state.
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children → have → state
The disastrous good Taliban vs bad Taliban policy continues even today”.
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policy → continue → Taliban
Presumably, she was referring to the TTP’s former spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan, who initially surrendered and was detained in a military safe-house but later ‘escaped’ and claimed to be living the expatriate’s dream in Turkiye.
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who → refer → Turkiye
Notably, the parents of the 147 children in the Army Public School massacre earlier raised the same grievance in their petition before the Supreme Court.
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parents → raise → Court
Her second tweet condemned the forced disappearance of Ghazi Amanullah, brother of PTM leader Manzoor Pashteen, and argued the state was targeting peaceful dissidents and their families.
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state → condemn → dissidents
As I said earlier, one might object to the tenor of some of her speech.
uncertain
one → say → speech
Who seriously disagrees that the good Taliban, bad Taliban strategy we’ve followed on and off in Afghanistan and Pakistan for three decades has, on each occasion, come back to bite us?
asserted
we → disagree → us
Or that decades of the state’s undiscriminating repression in Balochistan has only fuelled the insurgency?
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decades → fuel → insurgency
But even if you disagree, and are a genuine adherent of the ‘Pindi knows best’ philosophy, do you reckon people expressing the contrary view should be convicted of terrorism and jailed for 17 years?
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people → disagree → years
Poor Hadi, of course, didn’t even tweet anything himself.
asserted
Hadi → tweet → anything
The judgement accuses him, however, of retweeting four of Imaan’s tweets.
asserted
judgement → accuse → tweets
Unstated in the judgement (but imprudently expressed by Chief Justice Sarfaraz Dogar in an earlier, unrelated, case) is his true crime: being a Pakistani man who cannot control his own wife.
asserted
who → express → wife
…and 5 more, not listed.
