Love And Crime
Taha Jan Sarhandi
Six months ago we were all shocked to hear the news of two 10th grade students who committed suicide, shooting themselves. They took the drastic step because their chances of getting married were fading, owing their parents’ objections.
Another incident that came to the limelight recently involved a 30 year old man, who harassed a 28 year old woman by creating her fake Facebook ID, and uploading some obscene pictures of her. The Cyber Crimes Wing sprang into action, on the complaints of the woman, and arrested the criminal, who confessed his crime and said that the woman was his old class fellow and he loved her! He did all this just to get her attention!
The common point in both of these cases is “Love”; one incident resulting in suicide and other one resulting in the worst kind of Cyber crime.
The question that comes to my mind as a common Pakistani is, why is this happening?
Though the subject requires a lot of research and discussion, in my personal opinion, television dramas, crime scene remakes and sensationalist movies are to blame. These crime-infested media contents are having a seriously negative effect on the impressionable minds of individuals.
Things have changed drastically under the influence of media. When we were kids we didn’t knew at all what was Valentine’s Day. Similarly my parents didn’t ever let me watch Indian Movies at all! The only movies we watched were Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone action movies or animated Marvel cartoons. I think parents should keep a strong check on what their kids are watching, as they can’t really control their behaviors when they start going to colleges; Nip the Evil in the Bud before it’s too late.
The Pakistani dramas of today have also surprised me; I was shocked to see a drama scene which also became very popular in social media depicting two men having illicit relationship with each other. Well, I don’t want to name the word which is used for such kind of a relationship. Similarly in most of the dramas the same love notion is being depicted again and again in one way or another. I think a lot of improvements can be made in this regard as well, our drama industry has produced dramas like Ankahi, Hi Jedi action thrillers like Dhuwan and Alpha Bravo Charlie. When I was a kid, Azhar of Dhuwan and Major Kashif of Alpha Bravo Charlie were talks of the town. We do not have any such dramas, or characters, nowadays, except for the likes of Pyare Afzal!
As a nation we should also show some responsibility. I personally have received three messages related to Valentine’s Day! If we ourselves promoting extra marital relationships, then the whole society will suffer ultimately damaging us as a nation and country.
The contributor is a resident of Karachi. He can be reached at Taha_sarhandi@hotmail.com
I think the reason you presented to back up this argument by blaming media is just one superficial variable contributing to this behavioural disorder. When you look through prevalent phycology of an individual and society as a whole of our country which lacks tolerance, co-existence of male and females, denial, to an extent, to name few in the vast array of factors contributing. Media has both positive and negative impacts which couldn’t be measured unfortunately but societies learn from each other and negativity slowly pave way to positivity, by opening up minds to assimilate.
While I agree with you that television and movies have a profound impact on people, suicides when two people in love cannot unite because of external factors is as old as humans. So is the behavior of a spurned suitor harassing the one rejecting or ignoring them. What is new is that it is finally being spoken of. This is a step in the right direction to take real issues out of the shadows and confront us with the truth. It is a healthy act of social honesty that is a bit uncomfortable because it challenges our thoughts about who we are as a society and gives us a chance to allow people to think in new ways.
I guess we as a nation have been desensitized by the Media, Apart of the Islamic values that we claim to have as an Islamic republic of Pakistan (So called), We are on a decline to social values graph as well, Parents due to their hard work to make a living or we could say to get sync with the environment, usually ignore to improve the character of their kids, They usually believe that the Schools and colleges are for that purpose, Which is a false perception and needs to be changed.
I would like to thank you for raising out the real issue causing the problem, as i see the others are just “Reinventing the wheel”
“Nip in the Bud” would be much more Positive, if we just realize and open our eyes.