KARACHI: The youth of Karachi is not ready to let it go. Militants killed as many as 141 people, at least 132 of them children, at the Army Public School, Peshawar, and the government has merely termed it a terrorist activity. The youth demands concrete results.
More than 50 people, mostly young men and women, staged a protest of their own kind by walking barefoot from the Karachi Press Club (KPC) to the Governor House, on Saturday to express their anger at how the culprits of the Peshawar tragedy are still at large. The walk was arranged by Go Green Pakistan.
Faisal Mustafa, the president of Go Green Pakistan, expects revolution after what took place in Peshawar. He vowed not to give an easy pass to the government this time and was adamant on getting justice for the Peshawar victims.
"Our generation has been raised hearing that the Taliban did it," he said. "The government just puts all the blame on the Taliban and moves on. This time we won't let this happen. We will make the government take solid steps against these militants."
Support pouring in
Sindh High Court advocate Iqbal Rasheed Ansari was passing by KPC and could not resist joining. "I was passing by and saw the young crowd shouting slogans against the Taliban," he said. "I immediately took off my shoes and joined them. It's high time we support these young people."
Dr Azadi Fateh, a professor of the Federal Urdu University of Arts Science and Technology, learnt about this walk through Facebook and joined alongside her sisters. "We have been witnessing murders, targeted killings, robberies and blasts, but the Peshawar carnage is the limit," she said. "The impact of this carnage is going to last for ages. Think about the children who survived the attack. What will be the implications of such an attack on their young minds?"
A mother and a teacher, Nazlin, said that she could not just sit at home, watch television and do nothing. "Being a mother and a teacher, I just cannot be at peace with the brutal massacre," she said. "One cannot imagine how much we love our students," she said, her eyes filling with tears. "And the Taliban just couldn't stop pumping bullets into their small bodies that day."
Nazlin had brought her 10-year-old daughter, Ayesha, with her. "The day after the incident, I was dropping her off to school," she said, pointing towards her daughter. "We were both nervous, but she looked into my eyes and gave me strength."
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2014.
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