If someone has a technical flaw and finds the fair color very attractive, but at the same time also finds beauty in the black color, then where and by whom will a person of such temperament be digested? Similarly, if someone considers Alexander the Great as the supreme conqueror and also considers Raja Porus as great, then where will such thinking appeal to anyone? If a passionate person smells the fragrance of a flower and becomes perfumed, but at the same time also enjoys the blood flowing and the pain caused by the pricking of thorns, then he will only be considered mad. Seeing these contradictions, do not make an immediate decision to completely reject the possessor of this innate defect; common people also become happy by eating sweet and also have a passion for the spiciness of chili. Human temperament and thought are diverse; it can like the taste of two contradictory and opposite things at one time, can like the different virtues of two rivals, [and] two different colors can also fit in the eyes. Monochromatism creates narrow-mindedness, and polychromatism creates broad-mindedness. But the regret is that in our politics, romance, and love, duality is not acceptable in any. Majnun cannot look at anyone other than Laila, nor can any fair woman appeal to him; for him, the black Laila is the sole choice. Even if Seeda Khera marries Heer and takes her away, Ranjha will become a yogi only for Heer; if he raised his eyes and looked towards anyone else, the romance would be ruined. Ahmad Khan Kharal is my hero, but praising the bravery of Broadfoot can cost me so dearly that I might even be called an agent of the British. Describing the story of the bravery of the British army in the last battle at Chillianwala in 1849 is easy, and describing the tale of the full resistance of the opponent Sher Singh Attariwala and the Gujarati and Peshawari Muslims is difficult and impossible.
The problem faced by the sinner with the technical flaw and innate defect is that in Contradiction-land (Tazadistan) it is almost settled that riding two boats, horsemanship of two horses, two swords in one scabbard, and two beloveds of one heart cannot exist; but all these things have become obsolete. Today is the reign of colorfulness, multi-colorfulness, and all-colorfulness. Concepts and thinking have remained stale; time has moved far ahead walking a calamity’s gait. When time has changed, then idioms should also change, and the explanation of their meanings and concepts should also be done anew.
The sinner and transgressor with the technical flaw likes Dhola (the beloved) and also likes Rola (the commotion). What should he do if he likes the roles of both the hero and the villain in a movie? What should that weak person do if a cricket match is going on, whether a player of his team plays well or the opponent hits a four or a six, he claps and praises both times? He should like his own Tommy, of course, but he should also love others’ dogs. For such a sinner and transgressor, we have left no space; the lifespan of such a sinner has been made narrow because everyone considers the other completely wrong. If a journalist writes a sentence against them, the PTI people start calling him a envelope-receiver (corrupt) and a military agent; if there is a slight disagreement with any policy of the establishment or the government, the impression is given that he is conspiring together with enemies; if he criticizes the N-League leadership or its style of governance, they mock him by calling him Einstein; our institutions leave truth aside and issue a fatwa of being a liar and fabricating stories in a second even on an impression. The PPP people might also be delivering some speech in their internal gatherings, but they are certainly conscious enough that they do not curse publicly. The situation is such that the paths of politics and expression have been blocked by the idols of liking and disliking; making opposition into stubbornness and enmity, making criticism a mantra of life, and considering a traveler of any other path as misguided is a completely unwise step. We all are travelers on the path of Dhola and Rola Pakistan; the paths can be different, but the destination is one: a prosperous and democratic Pakistan.
If indeed the Long March has only been postponed and is going to happen again, then the real matter is of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s Dhola, and the Rola is also being created for this very reason. The word Dhola in the Punjabi language means the beloved, and Rola means noise and commotion. The word Dhola was made immortal by the Queen of Melody, Noor Jehan, by singing “Dhol Sipahiya”. The amount of Rola that Tehreek-e-Insaaf has on social media, YouTube, and TikTok, if that same Rola were seen in the streets and bazaars, the system would have become weak by now; but the problem is that the party whose strength and noise is on the keyboard is unable to show its power on the streets due to fear, pressure, or lack of organization. On the other hand, the imaginary Dhola and Rola against which the government is acting is a fictional and imaginary Dhola. On both sides, there is excess and deficiency and a turning away from reality. Tehreek-e-Insaaf’s bringing out of a huge procession and the concept and impression of jamming the federal capital is also wrong and unreal. On the other hand, the government’s blockade, container barricades, wire fences of nails, and the closure of motorways were also completely unreal. The preparations in Islamabad were as if Mao Zedong’s Chinese Long March was coming, and if it arrived, a revolution might come somewhere. The reality is that the Gandapur Long March proved to be more dangerous, fearful, and ferocious than the Afridi Long March.
Nowadays, the lyrics of the famous Dhola song are: “Na hosi Dhola, na hosi rola” (If there will be no beloved, there will be no problem or commotion). On one hand, this is being linked with Sheikh Rasheed’s bachelorhood, saying that since he has no wife and children, therefore there is no trouble for him; on the other hand, regarding the Long March, the arrests and crackdowns are also being linked to this Dhola, that those who have no home and hearth, no beloved, have no fear or terror of being arrested, but for those who have a beloved and a home, arrest is a serious problem.
Four years have passed while the current setup has been running; wise and insightful politicians, experienced strategists, and far-sighted leaders are all part of it, but they still have not been able to make any decision about “Dhola and Rola”, which is Pakistan’s biggest political problem. Until now, punishments from the judicial field have made Dhola a prisoner and made him famous by the name of 804, but in the political arena, which is the field of real contest, not even a political “vocal word” has been raised against Dhola. That is why the same kind of “Rola” keeps happening again and again; in the contest, neither any “light weight” (Hola) nor any “heavy weight” (Bhara) has descended yet. If Dhola remains alone in the field, politics and narrative will remain stuck there.
The first principle of democracy is that government and opposition are two wheels of a vehicle, but both the Imranist (Insafi) and the government want to run it on one wheel. Monochromatism cannot work; all-colorfulness is the lasting solution to problems, but both parties are blind followers of the same hero, the same color, the same taste, and the same face. It seems that, following Ibn-e-Insha, the sinner will have to take exile in the forest.
“When the people of the city do not give a path, why should one not go and rest in the forest?”