On the morning of 19th November, 2009 with mild winter sun shining, the residents of Peshawar with apprehension in their hearts were struggling to find the normality of life in the terror struck area; who knew the evil minded infidels would come and haunt them again and again. Around 10:17 am a man not more than 25 years old, with a small beard tried to enter the judicial complex where the guard stopped him and asked him for a security check; to which he refused initially and after a little probing by the guards the ‘partner of greater evil’ blew himself up along with him several innocent civilians. There was chaos, blood, body parts, fire and tears everywhere.
It was not something new for this nation and in particular for the residents of Peshawar. The specific area where suicide bomber exploded was a high security zone; with provincial assembly on one side, opposite to it the Corps Commander House and former Pearl Continental hotel; and not to forget that Pearl Continental was also destroyed in a bomb explosion. I remember traveling on this road last month when due to security issues one side of the road was blocked and this highly sensitive road had long traffic jams all over the place. I wonder who was being protected with all that security positioned?
And then we have our political leaders to comment on such incidents to make the situation worse, their one liner condemnations for them are enough for this bleeding nation. They sit in there forts and fear to come out, they spend millions and billions on building their security measures. We, the innocent civilians are paying for the policies, strategies and decisions they make. Our nation did not decide to start the Jihad in Afghanistan in 80’s, it was a vehement dictator who participated in it, was the nation ever asked on it? It was not us who became American allies in this so-called ‘War on Terror’ it was yet again a moderate dictator who made the decision for us; and yet again it is the nation that is suffering; while that moderate dictator sits in foreign land and puffs his cigar; in a very nonchalant way, with least botheration.
I wonder, what was the fault of these innocent people who, just perished, in a split second. Most probably for many families they were their sole bread earners who will never come back; and after a day or so we all will forget the whole incident and live our own lives. Where are the people for whom we voted?
Every time such an incident happens the anger, hatred and to take revenge from such infidels grows inside our hearts; and just that we cannot do anything on our own is more frustrating but the fact that we can do something for the victims and their families should be there because we cannot leave our brothers and sisters at the venom of our politicians.
It seems that this country has been made for elite and upper class only as the masses sacrifice the leaders make bigger and bigger forts for themselves. I wonder when was the last time our President came out of his luxury and spoke to the masses and I think it is time now to do more than just mere speeches and statements like, ‘These terrorists cannot scare us!’ Obviously they cannot scare you because you are not being hit; it is the masses that are being killed every day.
In the recent wave of terror; Peshawar’s various parts have been blown 5 times in the current month till date; in which more than hundreds of people lost their lives and do we shift in any policy of our government, or anything changed on ground, other than a few check points added and a few more roads blocked to protect the elite and upper class.
Recently China provided Pakistan with 14 car scanners; which are the only car scanners ever in Pakistan; they will not only scan the car passing from it but will also cease the car if finds any suspicious material; they are most modern and equipped security equipment and the funny part is that out of the 14 scanners only 2 are going to be sent to Peshawar; whereas three be installed in Islamabad and the government will decide what to do of the remaining scanners. So what we are saying is that our government has no line of action, no planning or are they just making plans for some more corruption on the name of security?
It is just sad to see that as the country weeps and mourns at the loss of their loved ones our leaders ignorant of this fact are meeting each other in their luxury, cozy palaces discussing constitution; as if it will make any difference in the lives of masses. Do they not see people being scared; mothers are frightened to send their kids to school; people do not want to go to mosques for Friday prayers!
I wonder when will this end?
I wonder how will it end?
I wonder who will end this?
I wonder when it will end, will we be even alive?
I wonder will our leaders will ever realize that what nation needs?
Alas! I am left with so many questions in my mind but no one to answer them! I would like to end my note with a poem I wrote
WE ARE LOST!
Lost, lost in our thoughts,
Lost, lost in our memories,
Coaxed by these conjured feelings,
Isolated from the worldly affairs,
We sit today and regret,
But We are lost,
Who are we? Who are them?
The fear has started to grip us,
I can hear the echoes of our complexes;
Shouting from outside and inside of our hearts,
Sand beneath our country is moving,
Its moving fast; and we can feel our grip loosening,
We fear that we will get hurt; but this time more than ever,
We fear we are lost, our friends and saviors are nowhere to be seen,
We fear we cannot hang on to each other’s hand for long;
Sounds coming from these blasts are confusing us,
We are tired now, We give up! We have lost faith in us,
Our tears have dried; or maybe they are lost too,
We can feel our bodies shaking; and our souls evaporating,
Lost! Lost we are! Lost in ourselves!
Sigh! We are Lost!
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
nicely done sir. but my question is if people know that the goverment is corrupt, and that thier “leaders” are most likely to be involved, then why dont they do anything about it?
Peshawar is a very small city, if the government wants they can control it very easily…..
But they want to kill us, they want to see us bathed in blood, they want to see our parents, sisters weeping and crying, They want to see us having no hands no legs no eyes…..
But they must keep in mind, We will never fear, we are born to die…. One day God will ask these beasts of Government…. Alas!!!! they will say, But there will be no one to help them…
God help us All….
I appreciate the manner in which you have presented the issue of terrorism that our country is currently going through …. time and again our leadership has failed to hold to their commitment of eradication of this evil from the country … and their helplessness is evident from the security cordons that they have made for themselves … this issue needs to be dealt at the micro level … much beyond the personal interests of our Leaders …. and then would they be able to ensure a peaceful and prosperous land for the people of our country
extremists are a majority in the north areas. They attack this beautiful city because the access is easy. The media needs to play a positive role especially in this city. We realize that Taliban and Al qaeeda are using the media now that they have been put on the back foot by the Pakistan Army. The media should not let them damage control. Space should be given to moderate elements so that they get into the minds of extremists too and fail their strategy.
Media should be urged to focus in this part of the country more. Moderate elements and true picture globally should be given maximum airing over here. If moderate and open minded views is being seen by the people here ofcourse that will affect their daily lives as media is so powerful that it has the ability to change your lifestyle. This way the extremism will be minimized if media stops airing bombblasts and airs liberal views.
The leaders condem that is what they show all the time in the media and the print. Hundreds of people die but all the leaders do is come on the TV sets for a minute and just condemn the attack and they think we can move on. We as a nation have to rise our voice against extremism and eliminate this from our land. Until we don’t raise our voice I don’t think a difference can be made.