By Azam Tariq Kohistani
Sometimes, and more often than not, I must say, your opinions are manipulated by countless tricks. Vice, lies, and deceit are so intricately wrapped in layers upon layers that you may believe it to be true, but you are unaware of the many underlying layers. The final layer is a hollow, deceitful thing. Interestingly, this has been happening since the beginning of time. However, as human civilization progressed, so did the sophistication of these deceptions. In these matters, humans have made excellent use of the blessing of language given by Allah.
If I were to flip the pages of human history and take you to the valley of Mecca, perhaps I could explain this matter to you more clearly. Due to the beauty of language and expression, the Arabs used to hold gatherings, and poetry was considered the most excellent means of expression. In this art, they seemed to have achieved perfection, and when the claim of prophethood was made, they used their eloquence and rhetoric to oppose it. A propaganda game was played in such a way that if the Prophet of Mercy had not been a prophet and only a reformer, this propaganda would have affected him in the most severe manner. The invitation and its acceptance remained in a state of flux, and this swing never made this movement international, but remained limited to a region, or perhaps it didn’t even remain so.
As Allah had to take the work from His last Prophet which had to continue until the end, the tactics of propaganda, deceit, hypocrisy, and trickery did not work in the way of this movement. However, falsehood and deceit continued to spread and blossom with the power of language and expression. During this period, the journey from caliphate to monarchy… from the era of Banu Umayya and Banu Abbas to the era of the two sheikhs, and even to the Mughal emperors in India, everyone used the power of language and expression to acquire power, authority, and wealth. In the name of knowledge and virtue, great names have made the sea of knowledge flow to perpetuate the rule of rulers.
Take a look at today’s politics and see what game is being played with such cunning. If we examine the last five years in Pakistan, we will be amazed by the statistics. The centuries-old game of lies and deceit will be evident before you. For the acquisition of power, through language and propaganda, statements were made that conveyed the message that in this country, one particular party is honest and all the other parties are thieves and robbers [this is partly true]. While our special honest party is abundant in material resources through human means. This honest party has people like Aristotle and Socrates who, upon assuming power, will eradicate all the ills of this country. They will heal the wounds and establish a system of justice by stopping the rampant injustice prevailing in the country. Here you can see how the power of expression has been used so beautifully that when an ordinary person listens to their speech, they think that this is the real sorrow of the nation and these are the people who will change our ‘rotten’ system.
But… who has been able to escape this centuries-old game of lies and deceit that has been going on? Only a few educated and wise people have been able to escape the trap here. The spectacle is such that not only ordinary people but countless wise people have also been influenced by their deception, and only these wise people have informed others that these are the real saviors of the nation.
The previous government’s rule was characterized by economic devastation and destruction, from which people began to count two and two. From the rule of law to the administrative issues of alleyways, everything seemed to be in disarray. It appears that the only problem in this country is a shortage of funds, otherwise all other issues have been resolved, or perhaps they never existed in the first place. The result of this was that the country’s administrative foundations began to weaken. The threads of justice were scattered in such a way that powerful institutions made it their toy and behaved as they wished, without anyone asking questions. The Sahiwal incident is a prime example of this, in which an innocent and unarmed family was ruthlessly killed, injustice upon injustice, until two innocent children were left to witness the annihilation of their family. This cycle of injustice did not stop. When the powerful classes played this game with the law, the story of murder and looting began to be told in every street of this country. An unending series of rape began. Leave aside young women… girls from two and a half years to ten years old became the target of sexual abuse for a decade and a half. In the length and breadth of this country, this series appears to be operating in an organized manner. In this era of injustice and tyranny, only one word will be heard from you: the country’s economy.
Language is being used today as it was used centuries ago. Evil pushes goodness back with its lies and deception, presenting itself as good. This confuses people so that they do not see evil as bad. Thus, falsehood is presented as truth and accepted as such. But here is the problem: no matter how much falsehood is polished and presented as truth, its secret is eventually revealed. The veil of lies is lifted. While using language, you may lie as eloquently as you want, weaving a web of deceit and treachery. But your web is always like a spider’s web, not very strong or durable. A single blow is enough to break it.
This method that has been going on for centuries, try applying it to your politics today, it is not a new phenomenon. It is a trick that has been played on people for centuries. Clever and sensible nations cut it off at the beginning. It does not let it blossom and flourish. It cuts off its roots and throws it away. But people like us fall into the trap of these tricks, dance in its deceit, and are subdued by its spell, giving them the power to continue their tyranny for five years.
It is essential to understand this oppression that has been going on for centuries. As soon as you realize that the person whom you trust the most is the one who is deceiving you the most, the first step is taken towards fighting tyranny and oppression.
