Another black day
The suicide blast in Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park Lahore on Sunday, 27 March’s evening where the Christian community was celebrating Easter was very termed ‘sectarian’ both by domestic and international media. Places like Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Toronto logo in Canada and others blazed green in solidarity with Lahore blast victims while eminent figures like Virat Kohli tweeted about the brutal act. International media told people that it was an attack on the Christian community although the number of casualties of the Christian community were lesser than the Muslim community.
Lahore blast, indeed, was a cowardly and condemnable action, but we have a history of such blasts in KPK, FATA, Karachi and many other places where only Muslims were killed. Recently, a bus in Saddar, Peshawar was blown up where all the martyred were innocent students or working people either on their way to colleges or to universities or to offices. No tower was bathed green in solidarity; even Kohli didn’t tweet about it! How now?
To prevent such attacks, we need to work on our youth. The perception of our youth is changed easily by scheming individuals. A bunch of teachers was arrested back in December 2015, from Punjab University, for having contacts with extremist groups. They only taught the youth extremism. In addition to that, recently the arrested agent of RAW revealed that he was involved in offensive activities by involving young students of Baloch Students Organization. Also, innocent children are used by subversive elements. A case in point is Qadri’s execution where simple, innocent children were made to sing and modify a song. Such brain washings result in attacks as that on Junaid Jamshed at the airport when youngsters were encouraged by extremists, as was evident in the video when the person filming the incident utters, “Shabash, shabash!”
The major tactic which is used against us is that of horror. We are told by the powers that be what may happen if we speak the truth regarding any issue. The other day, I rang up one of my friends to discuss the content of this article. My friend, who is well versed in current issues, had this to say: “Do you want me to die?” I was a little nonplussed by the answer and asked him what he meant. “Don’t you know, a couple of days ago a person was shot dead because of the same reason.” I replied, “We will die anyway, sooner or later either in a public blast or our institution would be attacked, so why not die this way, at least we will die for a reason!” My friend, afterwards, discussed the issue openly with me. The reason to narrate this story was to tell you if we make each other aware and hush away the horror of being killed, we can make a difference. We will die no doubt, either like Sabeen Mehmud for a cause, or in a suicide blast. Now take your pick; do you want to die for principles or do you want to die without being able to say a word.
The problem with our nation is that there is no rule of law. If a higher official commits a crime, somehow by making the laws flexible he is set free. For instance, the video on RAW agent shared by the authorities on social media is an eye-opener. The agent wants to be set free because he cooperated with Pakistani authorities by providing information. He did it just because he is his own country or agency disowned him after he was arrested. I mean, after 14 years of all the inhuman, murderous, offensive activities both to the state and to the public where millions of people died just because of him, which he himself confesses in the video, he expects to come out clean so that he and his family can live a peaceful and trouble free life? He admitted to fostering insurgency by inciting simple Balochis, but expects to come out clean!
I want the young people and general public to stop being used by forces bent upon destroying our country. I request the authorities to protect the public, because in any incident, the ultimate sufferers are the common people, stop making them suffer.
