The road to nowhere...

I was in the Gulf when I heard what happened in the UK just last week. The horrific scenes made me question what’s happening in our country, in our land, by our people. What are the reasons behind what’s been happening? This is not the country that I belong to and have been living in for decades. These scenes could be seen in Hollywood or Bollywood, but not on UK streets.

What are the reasons? How can we readdress the multiculturalism, multi-faith, multi-ethnicity as a driving force in our life for the better future of our country? How can we stop going on the road to nowhere and get a sense of direction?

How can we build the real “big society”? I believe it can be done only by empowering every citizen, making them a pillar of this big society. There are some issues that need to be discussed:

How can we revisit university fees or social benefit cuts? How can we listen to the elderly who cannot pay electricity and gas bills during winter? How can we address the issue of the single parents? How can we open up about the young homeless people of London and Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow? How can we discuss the lower standard of our education? How can we talk about the National Health Service?

As you can see, there are many things to be discussed; however the scenes of last week are unforgivable and unforgettable.  We need to sit down together as one family and every one of us must be able to speak up and be listened to with respect.  We don’t want to see such scenes again anywhere.

The remedy for it is empowering the citizens of our country. Our big society should be based on empowerment before we can build a partnership between every citizen in the neighbourhood. Only then we will be able to stay off the road to nowhere and on track to deliver the best for our country and humanity.

I would like to offer my deepest condolences to the families of the dead and my prayers for them and their families.