What is so "Civil" about it?

In my short career of a few years in the social sector, Allah granted me so many opportunities where I could prove my abilities and gain the kind of experience that many young mid-level managers could desire. There are good experiences and there are bad ones. I will speak of one awful experience in particular to express my disappointment as the youth of the nation with an intention that these amateur lines may perhaps help a few seniors to realize and review their conduct and how their conduct affects us, the youth of this unfortunate beloved country.

This was a meeting of professionals consisting of both state officials as well as activists from the social sector (NGO’s). The agenda of the meeting was to agree upon a grand strategy for combating various human rights violations and abuses such as Human Trafficking, bonded Labour, Domestic violence early child marriages etc. From the first half of the meeting, it could easily be deduced that there is less or no coordination between state departments linked with the above-mentioned issues. The second half belonged to “Civil Society”, the finger-pointing and “you” and “I” statements were not any different compared to what I have endured in the first half of the meeting. The accusations, the transfer of blame from one side to another, bitter language, the height of sarcasm….

The word "Civil society" echoed from all directions for almost the whole day. And I finally had to ask myself “what is so civil about this?”

There was so much difference to the meaning of the word “civil”. If we take the meaning of how the word “civil” is used in books and how it is defined in dictionaries, this was nothing “civil” and there was nothing civil about it. Now for me... most of these people are inspirations in their own way; they have a background, they have a list of achievements and they have been bestowed with some noble responsibilities. We all in our own way look up to these people...

Ultimately, I came out with all these questions in my head and thought of documenting and sharing them. I can only hope that none of us (the youth) become what I have experienced and I hope we prove to be a better generation and pass on values that should be passed on rather than incompetency garbed in bitter words of sarcasm to our upcoming generation(s). I pray that before I fade away, I see a better Pakistan and a nation that think as a nation rather than flocks of individuals with petty interests and limited vision.