“Even animals kill for a reason: out of fear or hunger”

Anupam Kher pens an open letter to terrorists questioning their mindless violence on school going children in Peshawar

Tuesday’s grisly attack in Peshawar has resulted in condolences pouring in from all corners of the globe. Several renowned media personalities have condemned the heinous attack. Veteran Bollywood actor, director and producer, Anupam Kher recently wrote an open letter to the terrorists who claimed the lives of more than a hundred humans with most of them being children. Kher’s open letter to the terrorists was published on the website of the Hindustan Times. Apart from the actor, the celebrated Indian lyricist Prasoon Joshi also wrote a poem in memory of the victims of the attacks for the website.

Open letter to terrorists by Anupam Kher

Terrorists,

Every time you commit a mindless act of terrorism, I die a little. Truth be told, I have been dying quite often of late; little by little.

I have died when bombs go off in civilian areas, when bystanders are held hostage, when airlines are hijacked, when defenseless people are killed and when the unarmed are sold as slaves.

But today, when you butchered over 130 children in cold blood in a school in Peshawar, I fear there is nothing left in me. I don’t know what your objective was, but you have certainly reduced me to a dead man walking.

What tenet of religiosity can you quote to justify such slaughtering of children? What twisted perception of which faith can you claim to adhere to? Does it require bravery to shoot barefaced children, innocents who do not understand the concept of conflict, much less the evil face of terrorism? Killing children cannot be an act of faith in any religion. According to early reports, you are the same monsters who tried to kill Malala Yousafzai on October 9, 2012. You did not kill her; her bravery won her the Noble Prize earlier this month. Words cannot adequately despise the monstrosity which you have committed. True there have been greater pogroms in history such as Lidice, Dachau, the purges of Stalin, the Cultural Revolution of Mao, and the killing fields of Cambodia. But these were political movements or results of conflict. What you have done today is something not reflected in history; the slaughter of innocents.

I cannot ascribe a category to which you could possibly belong. Even animals kill for a reason; out of fear or hunger. But you let lose bullets out of senselessness. Truly you are beyond evil. Pictures of war and conflict often move me. Today it was different. I saw a picture of a father who had tied the shoelace of his son before he sent him to the ill-fated school. “I have the shoe, but I have no son…” he lamented. I was not moved. I broke down. Your dastardly act today will have united parents everywhere and earned you their curses. Time will prove that their curses will not have been in vain.

Prasoon Joshi’s poem for Peshawar victims

Anupam Kher

Samjho Kuch Galat Hai: Prasoon Joshi

Jab bachpan tumhari godh mein aaney se katrane lage

Jab maa ki kokh se jhankti zindagi bahar aaney se ghabrane lage

Samjho kuch ghalat hai

Jab talwarein phoolon par zor aazmane lagein

Jab masoom ankhon mein khauf nazar aane lage

Samjho kuch ghalat hai

Jab oas ki boondon ko hatheliyon pe nahin hathiyaron ki nok par theherna ho

Jab nanhe nanhe talwon ko aag se guzarna ho

Samjho kuch ghalat hai

Jab kilkariyan sahem jayein

Jab totli boliyan khamosh ho jayein

Samjho kuch ghalat hai

Kuch nahin bahut kuch ghalat hai

Kyonki zor se barish honi chahiye thi

Poori duniya mein

Har jagah tapakne chahiye the aansoo

Rona chahiye tha upar wale ko aasman se

phoot phoot kar

Sharm se jhukni chahiye thi insaani sabhyata ki gardanein

Shok nahin soch ka waqt hai

Matam nahin sawalon ka waqt hai

Agar iske baad bhi sar utha kar khada ho sakta hai insaan

Samjho ki kuch ghalat hai

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th,  2014.

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