Giving and taking away lives has always remained a part of the ‘fair’ thing in love and war. The passion of losing the self with an aim to gain finality is an imperative part of eternal love. Passion to become Hallaj, desire to be Bulleh Shah, and the lust to seek love is the cause of temptation to end the worldly life.
Recently, a teenage (16 years old) boy shot dead his 15 year-old female classmate, and subsequently killed himself, in the premises of Gulshan-e-Fatima school in Soldier Bazaar, Karachi, on Tuesday morning. While the students were gathered in the assembly hall for morning assembly, they heard two gunshots from a classroom. The administrative staff rushed to the classroom and found two students of 10th grade laying in the pool of blood. As narrated by the fellow students, the couple used to study in the same class and in the same coaching center. It has been reported that the two students were intending to commit suicide for a long time, since their parents refused to approve their love-marriage. With the desire to make their ‘love’ ‘eternal’, and with the intention to remain together in the after-life, they ended their lives. The news broke out in the media, and left people in the shock, with everyone discussing it on social media forums.
Regardless of this one event, as well as many others which remain unreported, we need to understand one bitter reality of our society. It is not the sick obsession, or the sad state of mind that led the couple to commit suicide, it is us, every individual of our society, who is equally responsible for their deaths. Wonder how?
The differences that we have carved out in the name of religion, caste and social system, have dragged us to this point, where our children, and their children, are behind this hangman’s noose. As reported, the boy belonged to Ismaili Community and the girl belonged to Hazara Community. Pertinent to note, from the facts published in the newspapers as well as the alleged letters written by the young teenagers to each other and to their family, is that these stories very clearly demonstrate the position where we stand today.
Let me make it clear that I am in no way the supporter of what has been done by the teenage couple, but we, as the elders of those imprudent teenagers, are under the responsibility to change our attitudes.
People, this is neither the after effects of a television drama, nor the sad and obsessed state of mind, instead, this is the miserable depiction of our souls and minds. Those were us who made Husayn ibn Mansur, the Al-Hallaj in the undying history of Sufism. Those were us who vehemently opposed Bulleh Shah from following Shah Inayat, who then became the ‘infidel’ in this path of love (referred to: Bulleh aashiq hoyo rabb da huyi malaamat lakh; Tenu kaafir kaafir aakhde tu aaho aaho akh!). This is us who made Saadat Hassan, the Manto of his time and all the times to come.
As a society, we have given platforms to both; who used it positively and left the marks of their identity on the face of earth, as well as to those who preferred dying over doing.
However, we need to understand that not every person has the ability to survive through such compelling circumstances. Not every person has the ability to become Bulleh of his time. A straight ‘No’ is not an answer to the solutions of our children’s problems, for which we are equally responsible. Let us sit, and discuss with them, and find a plausible solution rather than leaving them at the altar of their senseless conscience.
