Holding back
With few cars and public transport vehicles on the road, most areas wore a deserted look. By noon police personnel outnumbered people on the streets.
Some traders had earlier gathered at Chowk Yadgar to offer fateha for those who perished in Tuesday’s siege and expressed solidarity with the bereaved families.
The city’s main trade centres such as Chowk Yadgar, Khyber Bazaar, Shoba Bazaar, Ashraf Road, Rampura Gate, Koochi Bazaar, Meena Bazaar, Karimpura, Qissa Khwani, Namak Mandi, Dabgari, Saddar Bazaar, University Road and Jamrud Road remained closed. Andar Sheher (the inner city) was also deserted.
The city’s traders, under various banners, had announced a day’s mourning and a shutter down strike to mourn the blast and record their protest against the government’s failure to provide security to the public. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KPCCI), Peshawar Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industries (PCSTSI), Rabta
Committee Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajiran Peshawar Cantt, Rabta Committee Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajiran University Road, Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajiran Haleem Jan group and Markazi Tanzeem-e-Tajiran Sharafat Ali Mubarak group also maintained a day of mourning. The All Traders Union had called for shutters down across the city as they observed three days of mourning.
“It is amazing how the traders of Saddar Bazaar closed their shops and went home,” said Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Tanzeem-e-Tajiran Peshawar President Sharfat Ali. “Usually we respond to a call for a shutter-down but this time everyone was in such shock that they just shut their shops themselves.”
The same could be said about customers, who rarely stay away from the stores. “But after yesterday, people just dropped everything and went home.”
Peshawar’s loss
For once in Peshawar’s conflict-ridden history, the city was in complete unison in agony and in rage.
The tragedy at APS was a complete security lapse, even in a city barricaded to the teeth.
“How can we cross this many check posts and go through so many security checks but the culprits not be stopped or detected?” questioned shopkeeper Noor Zada. “Maybe what we are missing is a strategy and a check on those who enter the city.”
For Fawad Musa, also a shopkeeper, nothing came close to Tuesday’s tragedy. “We have never seen such a sight in the history of Peshawar—where terrorists have killed innocent children,” he said. “We have wept and grieved and then faced the situation with determination but this tragedy has weakened our hearts,” said Musa. “Terrorism needs to end now.”
Sixty-six-year-old Qazi Hameedullah has lived through decades of loss but broke down as he offered condolences to parents who lost their children.
“For the first time I cried watching TV, I had not wept when my own parents died but yesterday I could not stop crying.”
“This is our hate of the Taliban that we have closed down all our markets,” stated Zeeshan, a shopkeeper. “The killers of such innocent children can’t be human, only a beast can be behind this.”
Rahim, a university student, was shaken but clear on one idea: “The first and foremost effort of the government must be to finish terrorism and militancy—we will no longer tolerate such barbarism in our city.”
Reeling with rage
The city erupted in spontaneous protests and rallies where people took to the soapbox to demand action.
Most speakers railed against security establishments and both central and provincial governments for allowing a security lapse which resulted in the deaths of 130 children. “The government and security forces failed to protect the people of K-P,” said a representative of Olasi Tehreek.
After attending funerals in Hassan Ghari and Gulberg, PTI K-P President Azam Swati said, “Such callous acts are being carried out by the foes of Pakistan and Islam. They have strengthened our determination as a nation to fight terrorism.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 18th, 2014.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ