Pakistan: A nation of pretence

In our state of affairs where step of an individual is judged or misjudged (being more precise), one often has to live life in a very calculated and ‘orderly’ manner.  From time to time, questions are raised on the social norms, values and culture of our society.One such affair which astounds me is hypocrisy. An act of pure evil which is condemned by our religion, Islam, but us, the faithful followers of the religion of ‘Truth’, ‘enlightenment’ and ‘modesty’ have made hypocrisy our religion. 

Here a few common examples which reflect the intensity of our hypocritical society:

1.     It is a sin to talk to a stranger, yet marrying one is a cultural norm.

Be it a boy or a girl, if you have been found interacting with a person from the opposite sex, you ought to be in deep trouble, even if there is nothing going on between the two. Why? Well, the answer is simple…. A girl and a boy can never be friends there has to be something more between the two. 

 2.     Guys smoke; so what?? But when a girl does the same……

“Oh my Lord, how can this be??”… “Ajj kal ki larkiyan, Allah he bachiye” (Girls these days, May God protect us from them). One often gets to witness such exasperated episodes, but when a boy does the same. We simply shake it off!  

 3.     We take pride in not interacting with the ‘lower’ class yet our children our raised by maids.

It has become a social norm in the middle and the upper middle class to hire a maid or two to raise  children. The parents are far too busy to look after their off-springs therefore ‘ayaas’ are hired to look after the children, after all the parents are doing the best they can! 

 4.     We spend millions and millions on flamboyant wedding parties yet when a politician does the same. He becomes a traitor.

Wedding ceremonies are of utmost significance in our culture and money is spent like continuously running water. Yet, when a politician follows the same path, he is subjected to nation-wide criticism and is subject to media scrutiny. 

 5.     Do not offer prayers, yet are the first ones to point fault in others.

Many of us have been blessed with such gracious personalities who, seldom during their life time have offered a prayer, yet are the first ones to chatter about ‘Islamic dressing’, ‘blasphemy’ and ‘desired- religious acts’.

 As a nation, we have become accustomed to the culture of hypocrisy that is now, no longer seems an oddity. I hope that someday, we’ll truly understand the essence of the following quote of Khalil Gibran;