Pakistan Is Being Turned Into a City of Silence, Where There Is Increasingly No Room for Dissent and Raising Questions: Khawaja Saad Rafique
LAHORE (Daily Qudrat): Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique has said that the voice of Pakistan’s helpless must be heard, and problems must be solved.
Addressing an event related to Iqbal Day, he said that if we talk of Allama Iqbal, then we will have to talk of the common man, and then we will also have to accept his decision. There is conflict, terrorism and tension in the country; we resort to hypocrisy and diplomacy. Ask questions, call truth truth and wrong wrong; the voice of Pakistan’s helpless must be heard and problems must be solved.
Pakistani leadership has a greater need to understand and adopt Iqbal’s thoughts and ideas. All of Pakistan’s stakeholders — politicians, the establishment, the judiciary and journalists — must make a Charter of Pakistan.
Khawaja Saad Rafique said that there are restrictions on asking questions in the country, and guards have been placed on thought and expression. Pakistan remained under the influence of dictatorships for decades; when were Iqbal’s ideas truly acted upon? We compromise on principles, which is why we keep going round in the same circle. In a democracy, the common man’s decision must also be accepted.
The question is: is the vision of our nation’s caravan leader really high today? The country’s elite class has been occupying resources and looting the country for the past eight decades. Instead of giving sermons to the youth, they must be given opportunities to move forward practically. Pakistan is being turned into a city of silence, where there is increasingly no room for dissent and raising questions.
