Blood in Ramazan: From Khyber to Karachi

Say a prayer for peace in the blessed month of Ramazan; pray that God might help bring peace to our country.

Muslim worshippers of the Jamrud area of Kyber agency were brutally blown to death, during Friday prayers today, the 18th roza of Ramazan this year. The blast left over 50 people dead and numerous injured.

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hci6JNOGsYE]]

This isn’t the first time a mosque has been attacked. Most of  us remember how only a few years ago mosques were the target of sectarian attacks; in fact, there was a mosque attack in March this year.

Ramzan is supposed to be a blessed month; but this year has been particularly ‘bloody’ for the people of Pakistan.

In Karachi, over 50 people have been killed in less than two days, and many are still missing. Morgues are running out of space , while blood banks are running out of blood for those injured in the spree of violence. The city police have today said that it will conduct an operation after this recent upsurge in attacks. Then again, our police officers, perhaps, will still be more interested in putting people behind bars for not fasting as opposed to putting people behind bars for killing.

While people continue to die, an average citizen wonders who to blame for not doing anything regarding this unrest – the police, the rangers, or the government as a whole?


Those who have been affected will be shown countless times on television blaming the government, asking for help or crying till their eyes are red and swollen.

Television channels show continuous footage of the injured and deceased, footage of their family members, and reports on how sacks full of dead bodies are being found.  But what good is this media attention if the government just won’t listen?

What becomes of the mother whose child is missing or dead?

The government doesn’t care. A spokesman will come on television and make a face saving statement claiming how "in a city like Karachi, people die every day." No big deal, right?

It is now being said that martial law needs needs to be imposed, or Karachi is fast moving towards a civil war. It makes me cringe and shake in horror to imagine what kind of violence that would bring on.

Perhaps we should be saying a prayer for peace in the blessed month of Ramazan; pray that God might help bring peace to our country.
WRITTEN BY: ramsha ali
An undergraduate student at Lahore University of Management Sciences. She blogs at onwriting286.wordpress.com.

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.