Muhammad Azam |
Moral fascism can be defined as: A group of individuals, with an unjustified faith in the inherent ability of government to solve or mitigate perceived social problems, attempt to force its set of morals on the entire population through creation and enforcement of laws and government policy.
On Sunday, Police raided the Grand Ambassador hotel in Islamabad on the order of Assistant Commissioner Capt. (Retd) Shoaib Ali where young people were, reportedly, holding a dance party.
In the raid, police rounded up 34 men and 16 women and booked them for “obscene acts and songs” and for violating the amplifier and the tobacco control laws.
Read more: No Water? You must be talking of Karachi; No its Islamabad
The owner of the hotel, located in Islamabad’s G5 area, along with the manager were also booked for abetting.
After the raid a video surfaced on social media which showed a bunch of frightened young adults in a room lit by disco lights.
The males were handcuffed and lying on the floor, while the women could be seen sobbing.
The person shooting the video can be seen roughly handling a petrified, sobbing woman to reveal her face from behind her hair.
While it is the duty of the police to enforce the law, it is unacceptable that a video which showed these individuals in a compromised state was leaked without their consent.
It almost seems like the men in the video were handcuffed and laid out on the floor only for the reason that they may be shown in a compromised position in the video.
Read more: World is Changing: Chinese celebrating New Year in Islamabad
This is a classic example of moral fascism which has taken root in our society and institutions.
These individuals were released in a matter of hours due to the minor nature of their offence but they are portrayed in the video as if they were hardened criminals.
Despite the fact that they were minor offenders, the individuals in question have a right to preserve their privacy. These were not hardened criminals, but rather just young people out for a night of partying.
Symptoms of moral fascism are becoming increasingly apparent within Pakistani society fueled by the lack of education and the ever widening socio-economic chasm between the poor and upper-middle classes.