"It's frightful that people who are so ignorant have so much influence."

What if George Orwell had foreseen today's Pakistan? How would he have adjusted his adage to keep it relevant? Orwell is remembered for a dystopian vision that has resonated across the history - and Pakistan's reality today has rarely escaped its grip. Had he been a commoner in Pakistan, he would have left the words unchanged. However, had he been made part of the power structure, he would have merely substituted the word "frightful" with "delightful" and added "enlightened" before "ignorant". This way, he would have kept the relevance of his words intact. And perhaps, he wouldn't have been wrong.

Unlike the influential enlightened ignorant, he would have at least dared to speak sensibly and acknowledge the reality. However, a bitter truth. That is, he would not have been a brute hypocrite and a saint in league with Satan.

Had he been a bureaucrat, he would have danced over his empowered ignorance - the same ignorance that suffocates freedom of expression........

© The Express Tribune