They kept telling me to go abroad and start writing there but for as long as I’m in Pakistan, I should just remain quiet. Or I should use a pen name. Something, anything, which would protect me.
Source/Credit: Ahmadiyya Times
By Mubarka Hassan | May 5, 2014
I started writing at the age of 9. I remember some of my essays and stories back in 3rd grade even won me some prizes. I have been meant to write, to express, to let my feelings flow into words. I have always loved how words could beautifully express a person’s feelings at a specific point in time, how they could send you into a completely different world, away from reality. The main thing that amazed me was what words could make you feel.
I started writing again a few years later, but it was more real than fictitious, based on current affair and human rights. Mostly, I wrote about Ahmadis and how their rights have been violated by the so-called Muslims of Pakistan. It was then I decided (a bit late though) that I wanted to be a journalist. I couldn't possibly study it but I could try and write, learn some tips, and get more recognition.
Everyone around me has been asking me to stop writing. Close friends, family, acquaintances, and even some people on Twitter. Not because I am a horrible writer (God forbid) but rather they are afraid for my life. They know what happens to people who speak out, who voice their opinions, who are blatantly honest. They kept telling me to go abroad and start writing there but for as long as I’m in Pakistan, I should just remain quiet. Or I should use a pen name. Something, anything, which would protect me.
This is the situation of journalism in Pakistan. People who speak the truth, who create awareness in people are being slaughtered like animals. People who dedicate their life to the country are being attacked. People who are doing what they have always been passionate about are being blown to bits. Is the truth so hard to hear that you’d rather kill someone than hear it? How brutal can you really be?
I have wanted to be a journalist for a long time. I have wanted to serve my country through my word, even though being an Ahmadi, I will always be discriminated. I have wanted to create awareness about the rights being denied to minorities in specific and humans in general, all over Pakistan. But I also know that if I get published in a paper that would be it. Being an Ahmadi AND a journalist? Double treat for the illiterate, inhumane terrorists residing in our country.
I didn't write this post because I’m scared for myself. I wrote it because I’m afraid for the hundreds of journalists who are brave enough to step up and speak the truth, and end up getting murdered in cold blood. How long will we tolerate this? How long will the government keep hiding murderers and condemn them dutifully and forget about them an hour later? This terrorism can’t go on forever, journalists shouldn’t be targeted.
All I want to say here is this. Killing journalist does not hide the truth. If one dies, another will take his place. The truth will always remain. No amount of murders will hide it. The terrorists will only be adding sins on their accounts instead of virtues.
Stop killing journalists.
Stop killing honesty.
Stop killing.
Just stop.
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Mubarka Hassan is an Islamabad-based blogger who likes to create human rights awareness through her writing.
-- Perspective: Aspiring to be a journalist in Pakistan?
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