Second Class Citizen; are we not in our own homeland?

“You want to be treated like a Second Class Citizen.” This is one of the frequent comments I receive when I share the idea of migrating to another country with friends. Second class citizen, are we not already? I don’t think it’s a distant feeling; in fact I am reminded of it on a day to day basis.

We are discriminated against within our own country despite our status as citizens and legal residents of Pakistan. We all have limited legal or civil rights and implementation of law varies from class to class.

There is a not a single day I step out of the house and do not complaint about some form of injustice that happens with me or my family and friends. Every now and then the traffic is brought to a complete halt for the VVIPs to impart on their smooth uninterrupted journey to their destination, be it a visit to a family member or a cocktail party. News papers are full of stories whereby there were patients in ambulances that lost their lives because they were unable to reach the hospital in time due to traffic jams caused by VIP movements. Yesterday, during lunch hour, I rushed out of my office to pay a visit to my friend at a hospital. Just as I was about steer onto the road the hospital is located at, a traffic police stood right in front of my car ask me to take the longer route. I rolled down my window to inquire and was told that there was a VIP movement taking place. I abruptly uttered. “Who is the VIP, are you and I not VIPs? I felt an instant burst of anger and drove off by passing all barriers.

How many of us would actually go to the police to report an act of injustice that happens to us? Be it mobile theft or suffering as grave as rape? Once, a friend of mine was brutally beaten because she retaliated while being forced to sit in the car of two men who had been following her while she was returning home at 10pm after having dinner with friends. Her family reported the case to the police and what do they get to hear in return, “Why was your daughter driving alone so late at night?” These are instances that happen in the posh localities of Karachi with the so called upper middle class. Just imagine the level of injustice that prevails elsewhere amongst the not so influential lot.

We talk about being progressive and producing entrepreneurs. Anybody wanting to pursue their dream has to go through a chain of unethical acts which begins with getting through to influential people and includes bribery at each and every step. Once the dream business has been established, one has to bribe the local mobs on a continuous basis to be able to operate in that particular locality.

The privileges of fair treatment and basic protection are available to a mere few, the rest of us are Second Class Citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan who are subject to mistreatment and neglect at the hands of our superiors.