Violence perpetuates violence — peaceful resolution needs to be modelled in our politics, people via alternative...
KARACHI: I felt an overwhelming sense of grief as news of the Peshawar school attack unfolded. It was one of those moments where powerlessness gives rise to reflection: is this the war Pakistan asked for and to what end? Undoubtedly, many have been killed since compromising Pakistan’s sovereignty to placate a traumatised United States, culminating today in the deaths of many children at an army-administered school in Peshawar. How does one console the immeasurable grief of those who bury their young? What can one offer a nation in the mourning? On this day, an otherwise resilient and desensitised people have been shattered in the wake of a heinous crime. Yet, it is not the first incident of its kind. While much despair permeates the air and many are blinded by rage, let us not forget the thousands of children killed by drones and government air strikes alike, whose deaths remain unreported and inconsequential for the most part. Countless bodies of those children, too, have been placed in the ground beneath our feet: children who are no more culpable than those buried this day forward. Violence perpetuates violence — peaceful resolution needs to be modelled in our politics and populace via alternative frameworks of reconciliation and compensation. The army is at war with pockets of Pakistan’s citizenry: until this war does not cease, innocent children on both sides remain vulnerable casualties of the cycle of violence.
Leena Talpur
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2014.
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