What we can do is train ourselves for this struggle against evil, the only way to do this is by educating ourselves
KARACHI: Around 10am, on the morning of December 16, a group of heavily-armed TTP militants stormed into Army Public School and Degree College in Peshawar. These men opened fire and took several students hostage in the main auditorium of the school. The Taliban have claimed this attack to be in retaliation for Pakistan’s military offensive known as Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which was launched in June this year.
Imagine, we are living in a world where this sort of mindset exists. A world where grown men take revenge on other grown men by murdering children. When you turn on your TV this evening, follow-ups of this incident will be part of breaking news. When you log on to Facebook or check your Whatsapp, this will be the subject of all discussions. When you wake up in the morning, glance at the newspaper on your breakfast table, you will see related stories on the front page. You will mourn the loss, remember the families in your prayers and maybe even go as far as to updating your Facebook status about the inhumanity of it all. As time passes, you will come to the sad conclusion that there is really nothing you can do to make up for the lives lost. Think again.
I now speak directly to the generation that is still growing up, the generation whose brothers were killed in Peshawar, the generation who saw their city burn on TV before they even knew what fire was. I speak, in short, to my generation. It is true that we cannot oppose this sort of evil directly; it is not in our power to launch an armed struggle against it or to shield our people from it. Not yet. What we can do is train ourselves for this struggle against evil, and the only way to do this is by educating ourselves and, after doing so, putting this education to good use in our country. I am sure many of us have thought of leaving the country for higher education and never returning, settling down in a foreign land, marrying and then dying peacefully. I urge you to think twice. Maybe this wake-up call to the future generation has been voiced one too many times, but I voice it out again through this letter. People of my generation, your country needs you! It does not need your sympathy or your tears — it needs you. On this day, I pledge my future to Pakistan. And I hope you do, too.
Dalia Sattar
Karachi Grammar School
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2014.
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