Robbed by the morally bankrupt

It was broad day light when four men broke into an elderly woman’s house in Defence but when they found nothing to steal they attacked her instead. What is the moral fibre of the nation that allows men to attack an 80 year old woman?

Nojeba Haider June 26, 2010
It was broad day light when four men broke into an elderly woman’s house in Defence. Two held the only occupants of the house, a lady in her 80’s and her maid, at gunpoint while the others searched the house for cash and jewelry. When the robbers did not discover anything worth stealing they began beating the old woman black and blue, accusing her of hiding valuables.

The woman, a patient of arthritis and weak eyesight, suffered bruises on her face and a possible fractured jaw. She was rushed to the hospital in a state of shock and the trauma of the experience still causes spells of temporary memory loss.

The incident left me shocked. The men did not stop to think they were inflicting violence on an aging, frail, defenseless woman. They beat her up even after finding nothing to steal though they knew there was nothing to gain. And to top it all, the men did not bother to wear masks because they are not afraid of being caught. An FIR has been lodged and the culprits remain free.

People in Pakistan seem to have lost all sense of morality. What made Pakistan stand out from countries like America were our family values. We were taught to take care of our parents and grandparents instead of dumping them in old homes. So what were these robbers thinking? They had a mother or grandmother at home, didn’t they?

Unfortunately, most people in Pakistan have lost faith in basic values like integrity, honor, respect, and truth. There has been a breakdown in the moral fabric of society. The evidence of this decline in morality can be seen in our growing infatuation with material wealth, the rise of cheating in Pakistan, the disintegration of family, and the explosion of random acts of violence and indecency.

We are slowly losing the moral conscious that enables us to distinguish between right and wrong while maintaining the integrity of our actions. The true loss of Pakistan is the disintegration of its moral values as exemplified in our growing preoccupation with materialism, the breakdown of the family, and the rise in violent crimes.
WRITTEN BY:
Nojeba Haider A corporate banker based in Karachi. Nojeba tweets @nojeba.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (1)

parvez | 13 years ago | Reply The state of affairs is truly terrible, but fretting and fuming and writing blogs on the situation only creates more anguish. Yes writing does create more awareness but we are past that stage now what is required is action.
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