Original Article was written by Javed Ch.
When an elephant is young, a chain is usually put around his leg which restrains it from moving at its own will. The young elephant initially tries to break the chain and run away but soon realises that it is powerless again the chain. Time passes and soon the baby elephant becomes quite powerful, it can then easily breaks the chain but the elephant never tries to do that…. Why? Because it doesn’t think that it can. Elephant thinks that the chain is invincible. When the elephant is tied to the chain, no one is allowed to disturb it because the elephant might react violently and this might break the chain.
When an elephant is young, a chain is usually put around his leg which restrains it from moving at its own will. The young elephant initially tries to break the chain and run away but soon realises that it is powerless again the chain. Time passes and soon the baby elephant becomes quite powerful, it can then easily breaks the chain but the elephant never tries to do that…. Why? Because it doesn’t think that it can. Elephant thinks that the chain is invincible. When the elephant is tied to the chain, no one is allowed to disturb it because the elephant might react violently and this might break the chain.
Citizens of a country are also like this chained elephant. We (citizens) have always been suppressed by almost all governments…. A commoner fears government, rulers, police, army and other government organizations so much that he thinks that they are undefeatable. A Police station usually has 100 men and those 100 men are in-charge of thousands of people. If only 5000 citizens surround a police station and demand for their rights, police will, sooner or later, surrender… What happened in Libya? If we use our power, then for us, constitution is nothing but a mere piece of paper and judge is nothing more than an old, weak man. But why don’t we do it? Because for us constitution, police, court, several other government organizations are like the chain. It’s our weak psychology which is not letting a revolution begin.
All governments do know this and try to make sure that the citizens don’t react violentely which might make them realize that the chain is not unbreakable. All governments know that once this chain is broken, citizens will realize their actual power and then it will be difficult to control them. Due to this whenever a revolutionary group or man rises the government uses its full force and resources to crush the group or that specific person. By this the government gives a message to the citizens that the chain “is still strong and powerful.” Lets take example of recent acts of violence in Britain, the protesters destroyed six major cities, looted shops but soon police came in action and dozens of protesters were arrested, tried and punished. The law and order situation came under control within hours. Hence, showing that the chain is still strong.
But in our country, Pakistan, the situation is a bit different. We have realized that the chain can be broken. We would have never realized this if the government haven’t forced us to speak and act against injustice.
Once during Z. A. Bhutto’s rule army was ordered to fire at the demonstrating civilians. Army officers refused to kill their fellow, innocent countrymen and instead the three brigadiers commanding the troops resigned. (See the real power of citizens?) Let’s take example of the protests which occurred few weeks ago against power-shortages and load shedding. The short-fall of electricity rose to 7,500 M Watts and the frustrated Pakistanis were forced to act violently. Different opposition parties also, directly or indirectly, tried to hijack these protests. The government was forced to react, funds were released and within 48 hours the protesters went home. They had finally forced government to try to solve the problem and now, almost all areas of Pakistan are only experiencing scheduled power-cuts since then. Similar protests were held few years ago for re-installing of Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudary as Chief Justice of Pakistan. What message does this gives to people? This has led to a realisiation that until and unless, people will not react violently, until and unless they will not destroy government offices the Government will not listen to them.
The person who will show stiff but violent opposition to government, the government will listen to him but my dear friends keep in mind that you are not supposed destroy cars, government offices, etc. Directly go and hit Bilawal, President and Prime Minister houses, or to be precise, palaces.
