The Game of Hatred must End

Dr. Sarfaraz K Niazi (e-mail niazi@niazi.com)

Making speculations about the merciless, brutal, vengeful killings that spill guts, brains and hemoglobin on the streets of Karachi is the best pastime of the "Monday Morning Quarterbacks" of Karachi. Just about everyone, from the Prime Minister to the street bums, have their own views of the identity of the "secret hand" and it would only be redundant to talk about it. It is more important to establish why some people do agree to kill others. Let us begin with a little philosophy. Human beings are the only living species on this planet that kills its own kind. Surprised? You should be. Even animals have a better sense. Take the example of Lemmings rats who commit mass suicide to save the rest of the clan by reducing crowding. We can invoke the Aristotelian argument that since humans kill each other, humans will kill each other. Thus the argument to evaluate is not why people kill each other but what, at times, keeps them from killing each other. Two things come to mind: love for their brethren and fear of their brethren. Let us first talk about the fear of brethren, the big brother, the society, the law. If we accept the officially quoted numbers of the Government of Pakistan, we find that Pakistan has the world's lowest conviction rate: less than 7%. Thanks to our totally incorrigible judicial and penal system. You have to be a total imbecile to get convicted for any crime, from petty theft to grand larceny in Pakistan. (This excludes political vendettas.) Now add to it your odds of getting caught committing a serious crime. Shall we say, 1% or that's too generous? Anyway, applying the principles of elementary statistics, the probability values are multiplied not added: So, 0.07 x 0.01 = 0.007 or 0.7%. So, you have less than one in a hundred chance of paying for your crime. Or, there is a better than 99% chance that crime will pay. Now compare this with legitimate businesses that have only 50% chance of survival. On a more personal level, we take much greater risk of getting hurt or even getting killed in road accidents than when committing a daring crime. What it tells is that in the roulette of life, getting involved with crime is the best winning bet. And this should satisfy the speculations about why do people go for the gut; there is little fear of brethren.

Now, let us move on to the next reason why people may not kill each other: their love for others. This love is not something dictated by genes or social customs but by pure chemical interactions of pheromones. Brothers have killed brothers and children have killed parents. On the other hand strangers have paid with their lives to protect strangers. This chemical bond of love is quite subtle and easily eroded. Sprinkle in a little bit of hatred, smear a little bit of incentive, add a dash of glory and people will pick up arms. You kill one, you are a murderer, you kill ten you are a terrorist and you kill a hundred or a thousand and you are a leader. This should sound familiar. The Karachiites had all the making of killers; Mohajirs out to bleed Mohajirs; religious leaders exploiting to kill in the name of religion, politicians using blood to inculcate loyalty; what else do you need? The love of brethren is gone.

Having eroded both reasons why people may not kill each other, we became an easy game for our enemies. All that was needed was a little bit of incentive and the guns began roaring. I do not think there are any camouflaged Indians singing jana gan mana adhinayak in the streets of Karachi; these are our own people, fed on hatred and greased with sufficient head money to begin pumping lead. Can we fault India? Faintly on moral grounds. Why would our people sell out is the question to answer. It is our own making. The fault does not lie, in this case, in our stars but within ourselves.

What can we do to correct ourselves. Of the two reasons why people may not kill each other, the fear of law and society is perhaps impossible to correct within our life times. That leaves only one option: to breed more love for brethren. Those spreading hatred under any rubric need to understand that our utter poverty makes us a sitting duck for exploitation from within and without. The game of hatred must end. Let us wake up and instead inject a bit of love, love for our brethren, love for other human beings, love for other souls of God. What we need is a campaign of love. A bandwagon of love. Is anyone listening?

[25 March 1995 The Daily Dawn]