KARACHI: Not all Pakistanis living abroad are oblivious to the situation in Pakistan and they don’t live in a bubble. These overseas Pakistanis have a strong connection to their country and react accordingly to current affairs. BOLO Pakistan is a product of such young men and women, who have taken a step to bring a change.
Creators of BOLO Pakistan include Anab Jafri, Iftikhar Nazir, Ali Kazmi, Sheba Zaidi and Feryal Khorasanee. They started their forum through Facebook to engage people in discussions and crush issues of minority and sectarianism — both which are prevalent in our society presently.
When did BOLO Pakistan start?
The Facebook group BOLO Pakistan was launched on April 2 this year as a campaign against minority injustice.
Pakistani society has lost tolerance. Let alone other religions, you notice that within sects, people spew hatred against those with differing in jurisprudence or thought. The less said about the lack of understanding displayed by the political parties of the country, the better.
We heard about the incident of Shias being removed from buses and mercilessly butchered. It continued with the start of this year, with the Quetta bombings against our Hazara brethren. Interspersed between these incidents were the routine humiliation of Ahmedis, Hindus and Christians and other minorities residing in Pakistan.
Overseas Pakistanis came up with BOLO Pakistan as a campaign to end the silence against injustice. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
BOLO Pakistan realised that talks about injustice were parts of our conversation, but not extended beyond our comfort zones. Ordinary people do not speak out in public, yet bigots dominate the conversations. We thought it was time — we defended the plurality of our society and encourage the civil society to speak out louder on these highlighted issues.
How will it make a difference in Pakistani society? Does online campaigning make a difference?
The world is a different place today. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are real conversation starters. In Pakistan, observe that politicians are now engaging in online conversations and even the civil society is getting in the act, such as Shahzeb Khan’s murder case.
Eventually, we envision the campaign to evolve with the people on the ground. BOLO Pakistan aims to start the conversation and engage the strong constituency that exists in Pakistan and abroad, who feel strongly about the destruction of diversity in our country. The ambition is to create a space for this agenda in politics. In Pakistani society, it is common to see whoever speaks louder wins. The more the majority stays quiet, the more space we surrender to the bigots for their agenda of hate. We want to encourage Pakistanis to speak up and take back the space and put this agenda at the forefront during upcoming elections. Our message for all is to express their outrage on the genocide of our diversity and message for peace for all.
Overseas Pakistanis came up with BOLO Pakistan as a campaign to end the silence against injustice. PHOTO: PUBLICITY
It is indeed surprising to see how many people are scared to speak up against these injustices. We are making a statement by showing our faces, by coming out publically and putting real human faces to the inclusive section of our society. We have already seen enough of these fanatics!
Are you hopeful things will change with the 2013 elections?
The fact is that people are expecting change out of the election. We haven’t seen such anticipation and interest since 1988. These are signs enough to make us hopeful for the future of Pakistan. Real change, however, will take time.
There are structural impediments. National and provincial bodies hijack local development funds is the most glaring aspect; we should be the purview of local governments as election leverage. Voters then don’t vote for policy or vision, but are rather forced to vote on base developmental need.
As Pakistan develops a more meaningful experience with democracy, we expect people to shift their voting agenda from petty issues and focus more on deeper dialogue on the right direction that our country should take.
Find them on Facebook www.facebook.com/paksitanbolo.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 6th, 2013.
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