The PM’s pledge

If one is not mistaken, this is the umpteenth time that the prime minister has pledged to deweaponise society. It is therefore only natural and rational for people not to plunge into a state of euphoric ecstasy on hearing the PM’s latest pronouncement, ‘directing the interior ministry to prepare a plan to deweaponise society’. Years of fake promises, sleeping pills, clichés and slogans have created an aura of suspicion and cynicism. Good news are considered either ‘motivated’ or accepted with great reluctance, even when some of them happen to be true.
What must we think of the latest statement of the prime minister? How many offerings, sacrifices, donations or lives are needed to make our rulers understand that it is their duty to protect the life and property of every citizen? This task cannot be sublet to private militias. Citizens Against Weapons, a group dedicated to a weapon-free and peaceful Pakistan, demands complete withdrawal of all weapons from every citizen, regardless of an individual’s rank, status or affiliation. The right way for the prime minister to demonstrate his sincerity is to surrender his own weapons and ask his ministers and party to do the same.
Naeem Sadiq
Karachi