THE country has just survived a political disaster and we must be grateful to the judiciary for saving us from a constitutional dilemma. However, whatever happened, whatever we have seen in these last few days will most likely be forgotten in a few days and become just an event of history.

The sense of morality, ethics and respect that we have lost in these troubled times, however, will remain with us. This is what pains me much more than anything else.

Even the sanctity of the holy month of Ramazan failed to have any impact on our choice of words, taunts and abuse.

Ihave seen people disrespectfully bashing each other in high tones, immorally abusing and vilely calling out each other with villainous names not even thinking of other`s age or gender just for the sake of some political actors who will not give us anything, but have become the masters of moulding our sentiments.

The thing that bothers me the most is the fact that even the most educated people, having studied from the most prestigious of academic institutions have been behaving no dif ferently with their closest friends, colleagues and even teachers. Ramazan or no Ramazan, we have let ourselves down as a nation.

Go to a political supporter, any supporter of any political party, and ask them about how is their Ramazan going, and they will be their nice selves making all the right noises, polite and pious, the use of Arabic words in vogue will all be there. Then just say something positive about the party or the leader they are not supporting, and see what happens. Politeness and piety will go out of the window in one go. The sanctity of Ramazan and the veneer of civilisation will follow them in the second go. Most likely they would love to hit you as hard as possible.

This is what we have become; a society of animals driven by our uneducated and immoral herd mentality. At least we must learn how to respect each other even if we do not support the other`s argument or stance. This was what people were taught in the State of Madina by our beloved Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). At least this much is beyond debate. Or is it? Humza Farooq Awan Lahore