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Over the years, growing up perhaps during the most transformative eras of our society, I have seen our society degenerate into a more insensitive and polarized one. Even the most grotesque events could be, and most certainly are, justified by certain sections of the society.
Be it suicide bombing, honor or sectarian killing, one’s sure to find some supporters, no matter how outrageous that may sound. Murder, lynching, rape, all have been justified in the name of revenge, honor, blasphemy.
But even in this orgy of gore, there are expectations that some bare minimum requirement from human behavior would be met so that some resemblance of civilization is maintained. Even the most pessimistic would agree that one can safely and surely assume someone, who can do no harm or offense to anyone, can be left alone. But last night I lost all hope.
A news channel ran footage shot on a school bus. At first, it appears to be just like any other school bus, but the report mentioned that it was a school for children with special needs (deaf and dumb kids, to be precise). The bus, as per the report, belonged to a school in Lahore’s Gulberg area.
A gentleman, whom the news channel claims to be the conductor of the bus, is seen slapping a child while an elder boy tries to intervene. “What will you say to your father?” he says, sure that the poor kid can’t report this to anyone since God hasn’t blessed him with the ability to speak.
If that wasn’t enough to put all of us to shame, the video proceeds to a more heart-wrenching act. A screaming kid is held from the roof of the bus by a casually smiling man and then turned upside down as other kids look on. Listen to the screams of the little one and they will haunt you for a long time.
This act was not committed by one of the usual suspects that we have so conveniently learned to blame for all the evils; politicians, bigoted religious clergy, or the rich. Apparently, this act was committed by people who are likely to have kids of the same age and probably belonging to a section of the society that is generally assumed to be on the receiving end of wrongdoings of the powerful.
Go to the channel’s Facebook page, look up the post related to the report, read up the comments and you are in for a confirmation of the complete insensitivity of our society. A lady took offense that claims the incident was from Lahore, while the sick man who’s seen torturing the kid is wearing a Sindhi Topi. She didn’t care to comment on the act itself. Soon the thread dissolved into the most senseless and pointless debate on whether the video was actually from Lahore.
Harming and making fun of someone’s natural depravity, of someone who could do no harm to you and has no power to protest or complain, for your own amusement, while the society couldn’t care less; surely we have lost semblance to civility.
