When Lawyers Attacked a Hospital in Lahore

Image courtesy of Keattikorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Just about a week ago, lawyers attacked a hospital in Lahore, ransacked it, beat the staff that is paramedics and doctors, which resulted in the death of three patients. Sometime back I wrote a post on the Sahiwal incident an incident which shook the country to its foundations and then suddenly nothing happened and the news was buried under rubble. I came to know of this hooliganism through Facebook in the evening the same day. The first thoughts were those of shock and disbelief, as the news set in I browsed the various channels looking for more information. Soon enough exasperation set in, this was followed by a bout of hopelessness, grief and finally regret. I searched on the Internet looking for parallels to this sad and deplorable incident but thankfully found none. For where else do men and women of law take the law in to their hands? Where else do lawyers act like hooligans? Where else is life of a helpless patient who seeks a hospital’s help to address their ill health is lost due to absence or non provision of proper care since the very staff that was required to address their woes had to flee because they were under attack? In a Cardiology hospital? Where all patients are fighting for life and some on their last breaths?

No amount of lamentation is enough to condemn this dastardly act. Adding more woe to it was the behavior of politicians and all including the despicable media who spared no effort in giving  it twists to suit their likes and dislikes. As usual the media had a field day, the public was left bereft, the Government in shambles as it is. The bitching continued for a full week until a new demon surfaced and the whole focus shifted from that incident to a new one; That of awarding death sentence to a former dictator.

A dear friend, a lawyer by profession wrote this on his Whatsapp status, “Ashamed of being a lawyer, even in wars the hospitals are not attacked”

The cowardly and despicable act just like the Sahiwal incident makes me feel insecure. And I am sure I am not alone in this predicament. What comes to mind often is what kind of Pakistan are we leaving for our kids and the younger generation. Surely the society which is already polarized in a hundred different ways and where tolerance levels have dropped to the lowest; is it taking its last brief breaths? Or is there still hope for the brave few who want to live and try to swim against the tide. A tide which keeps getting stronger with no hopes of giving up? Does it make sense to relocate to another country? Do all those who have already relocated feel relieved? Did they do the right thing? Or the millions back home who are able to contradict and condemn such vandalism and who still yearn for hope and sense to prevail are right? Do we have any options? Or is it going to be institution against institution? Will now so the law of the jungle, of might is right prevail? Should we all still wait for a Messiah? Or is it time to give up and be strong, and let every man stand for himself? The questions keep haunting me, as I kook for answers deep inside me and around me. Or perhaps is it time to go in to oblivion?