Common sense is believed to be the most ordinary behaviour practiced in daily life. It varies from person to person depending on his/her circumstantial knowledge and society to society. Personal interests and collective interests are said to be the potential driving force in shaping individual's or community's common sense.
When we think of the first one, our society seems to have laden with the success stories of the personal interests as it is something quite natural and it is practised in all civilized societies. While following personal interests, great concentration is employed to the personal future plans, all personal matters are discussed in minute details, advises are sought from elders to get better personal results, all available common senses are brought into use to avoid minimum personal loss and to attain maximum personal benefits, extra conscious is exercised to win the trust of someone for personal gains, extra measures are taken in personal business deals, cautious steps are taken in making personal friends, enormous interest is shown for personal work, cautious attention is applied for personal edible stuff, best efforts are made in keeping oneself clean and maintaining better public relations, best doctors are picked to get proper treatment, ill-famed butchers are avoided, expensive shops are dropped off the list, better schools are selected for children and always dire consequences are taken into account before buying bad products, going to unsuitable places, getting in touch with the wrong person, bla bla bla. In short, a great deal of intelligence is demonstrated in every walk of life for personal interests.
Most of the times, we don't hesitate to deprive someone of their financial rights or exploit them of their religious, cultural, emotional, political, social and historical rights for our personal rights. Even in worst case scenario, sometimes we go to the extreme level by killing people who threaten our personal interests.
However, when we think of the collective interests of the community, we totally behave the opposite of the personal interests. Our wisdom, talent, maturity, cleverness, expertise, shrewdness and cunningness skills climb up to the pinnacle for personal gains but nose-dive to work together for the collective interests of the community. Our personal selfish behaviour has moved us to the point from where we consider others substandard. Our personal success has blurred our eyes to see the reality of others' expertise. Our artificial lifestyle has corrupted our mind to acknowledge the reality of the community we belong to. Our feigned class system has infected our hearts to comprehend the political standing of the community.
We, as community never sensibly tried to understand, what political line we need to ensure for the unanimity, wellbeing and safety of our community?
Who needs to be supported to protect our political interests?
Which political party needs to be encouraged or which party needs to be discouraged?
Who is our political friend or enemy? Which party has got close links with the foreign elements?
Which party suits the best to the interest of the community?
What danger lies in supporting the sectarian party?
What moral impact may the community face to encourage the wrong candidate?
Which party brings good name or bad name to the community?
Which party brings peace and harmony in the region?
Or which party promotes religious hatred and sectarian violence in the region?
Which party represents foreign elements in the region?
Which party uses religion to meet its ulterior designs?
Which political party represents the political aspirations of the community?
And which party has the potential to preserve the culture, ensure political sanctity, protect financial units, promote education and bring social harmony in the region particularly in the community?
Our personal common sense has helped us to become a good mullah, doctor, architect, lawyer, teacher, businessman, technocrat, bodybuilder, footballer, boxer, army officer but not a good leader or a politician to lead the community on the path of prosperity. Our natural selfish behaviour has greatly helped us to become whatever we wanted but now it's time to come out of our personal circles, kick short sightedness on the bottom and help the community achieve collective interests. We have built luxurious homes but now it is time to build the community by standing united and knock all those out of our community who work for the foreign elements on the guise of religion and help the community attain its political ambition, which must serve the cause of Hazaras.
We all know that Hazaras are going through a very critical time in Pakistan. All stakeholders have once again come out of their dens to confuse or distract Hazaras of their genuine interests. Hopefully, Hazaras will not fall prey to the gimmick tactics of influential actors in electing their right person for the right place in coming elections in Pakistan. If the community didn't show respect to its collective interests, the world would see Hazaras as proxies in the region. I fully understand that the upcoming election is not the solution to all our problems but it is one step forward to resolving our issues by ourselves.