After the Machh tragedy

Prime Minister Imran Khan says he will visit Quetta to meet the Hazara mourners “very soon”, but how soon is not specified. What is delaying PM Imran from reaching out to a terror-affected community — which is currently holding a sit-in under biting cold in protest against the brutal Machh killing last Sunday and which has refused to bury their loved-ones until visited by the country’s chief executive — is anybody’s guess. Security may be one hindrance to the PM visiting the bereaved community. It may well be the case that the PM does not want to set a “bad” precedent of giving in to the demands of a protesting crowd, as being reported in the media through sources. He may well be taking time to ready a fitting response. Nothing, however, should excuse the PM from even delaying what falls among his foremost undertakings in the wake of the barbarous act of terror. He should have paid a visit to the grievers even without them demanding it.

What by the way the Hazara protesters can expect of the PM at the most — a few words of consolation; a customary reassurance that the whole nation sides with them in this hour of grief; and some monetary compensation which can, in no way, match the irreparable loss of lives. It goes without saying that the state has failed to provide security to the vulnerable Hazara community that has lost some 2,000 souls in horrific attacks during the last two decades, and continues to live under a constant state of fear. However, a face-to-face interaction with the PM may weaken their feeling of helplessness; may ease their pain and pacify their anger; may heal their shattered sense of belonging; and may serve to pass on the message that they are not taken for granted and that the pledges made to them in 2013 by the government of the day will be taken seriously.

With the mourners in Quetta staying put, the spillover effect is already being felt in in Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore and Islamabad in the form of similar protests. In Karachi alone protest continues — till these lines are being written — at about 20 sites disrupting traffic within the city and on the highways leading to the interior of the Sindh province. There are also reports of flights from the Karachi being cancelled and delayed due to the passengers and crew finding it difficult to reach the airport.

Time to remind the government: a stitch in time saves nine.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2021.

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