Adil Najam
Pakistan remains at war. Whether it is schoolgirls in Lower Dir or Shia mourners and those waiting outside Jinnah Hospital in Karachi. All Pakistanis everywhere are targets for these murderous enemies of Pakistan.
It may be true that we do not have many friends abroad. But it is certainly clear that our cruelest enemies are all amongst us.
Day in, day out, they kill and maim and terrorize Pakistanis all across Pakistan. No city is safe. No Pakistani is safe. The ritual is now well entrenched. We mourn our dead. We cry. And just as the tears begin to dry, we are called upon to mourn some more. To cry, again.
The tears are unavoidable, and maybe even necessary. But they are no longer sufficient.
Let us begin, at least, by refusing to tolerate any excuse, any justification, any argument for such violence. Denial must no longer be an option. Yes, there may be forces great and small that are against us. Yes, Pakistanis are being killed also by outsiders too. Yes, the world is an unfair and unjust place. Yes, the wheels of history are complicated. All that, and more, may be as it is. But it is our children who are doing the dying. Everyday. Everywhere.
Those who train themselves to commit such acts – in whose ever name and for whatever purpose they do so – make no excuses for what they do. No excuses must be made for them either.
Let us listen, once again, to how the enemies of Pakistan justify this murder and mayhem:
Good job.. I admire your ability to speak up against ‘injustice’. I think it is important to retaliate against people who look down on others, don’t practice what they preach, destroy people’s lives. Extremism must be finished from the root and for ever.
A dying order going out with a bang. From the ashes of this will emerge a new Pakistan.
Pakistanis cry. Pakistanis mourn. Pakistanis weep. Once again. It does not have to be this way. But that is the way it is. Karachi is sinking into a black hole. Their is no end in sight to this violence. Has violence engulfed us or have we engulfed violence? Which is it?
Can Karachi be saved? Can Pakistan be saved? Can Pakistan save the world or can the world save Pakistan? When will the carnage end? Can we bring it to an end or will it bring us to the brink?
The other day I saw a heart wrenching photograph(Hindustan Times) of a girl crying next to a dead mother. I was in tears.
I think may be the reason behind all this is that people should forget Dr. Afia Siddiqui tragedy. Now no one is talking about the Prisoner 650.