Adil Najam
These are two amazing pictures.
Both were taken today (June 30, 2009) but they tell two very different stories. Each story is equally true and each story is equally important. The stories are about the little girls in the pictures. But they are also stories about each one of us.
The first is a picture of hope. It depicts a child clinging to her mother and a bus window while on a bus that is returning to Buner, in district Mardan, as some IDPs start returning to their homes.
The second is a picture of displacement. The picture of another child – only a little older than the first one – at a UNHCR camp (Yar Hussain) in Swabi who is pushing a canister of water for her displaced family.
Our prayers are with both these little girls. May we all see more pictures like the first and less like the second. But it is more than just the return of IDPs to their homes that we must strive for. Not until the future of every child in Pakistan has been made safe and peaceful and secure can the future of any of us be safe and peaceful and secure.
Bless the Taliban, Baitullah’s & Fazlullah’s for inflicting this pain on our children. May they go to their heaven sooner than planned.
awww… horrible truth
Adil, very captivating. My heart goes out to these young girls. May Allah give strength to the families fighting this war and living like refugees in their own country.
It’s always heartbreaking to see little children suffer. These are the times when Pakistan’s private citizens need to step up with as much or more vigor than they showed in the “civil society” protest movement against Musharraf.
Those who fought for democracy and restoration of judges should understand that democracy requires more than occasional protests or elections. It requires active citizens participating in all aspects of society.
Here are a couple of quotes from Alexis De Tocqueville, a French philosopher who traveled across America in the 19th century and captured his observations in his book “Democracy in America”:
“The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.”
“Americans of all ages, all stations of life and all types of disposition are forever forming associations. There are not only commercial and industrial associations in which all take part, but others of a thousand types-religious, moral, serious, futile, very general and very limited, immensely large and very minute.”
It is very good that IDPs are now beginning to return to their homes. Do you have any numbers on how many have already returned home and how many are still displaced?