Paris -- once a city of love

On November 13, while most of us slept comfortably in our beds, at least 129 people were massacred in one of the most brutal attacks in France since the Second World War.

Paris, once known as the city of love, has now been transformed into the city of terror. People were brutally murdered in six separate attacks on Friday evening. Chaos and fear gripped not only the capital but also the entire world. People around the globe took to social media to express their grief and deep shock in the face of the attacks, which took me back to the APS attack of December 16, 2014, in which innocent children were killed by ruthless terrorists.

Violent extremists, around the globe, are getting more daring by the day. They clearly don’t care about their own lives; all they care about is killing innocent people.

This is the first time such a large-scale attack has taken place on European soil after the Madrid bombings of 2004 and the 7/7 attacks in London in 2005. I keep hearing comments like ‘Pakistan is not a safe place to live in’, ‘I would never let my child be educated in Pakistan’, ‘I would rather consider sending him/her abroad — at least he would be safe there’. But now what options are we left with? Terrorism has touched shores where once it was unheard of. No place or country is safe today. Living in Pakistan, while stepping out of our homes, we can never be sure if we will return safely and we continue to question our security environment.

But after the Paris attacks, every person in every corner of the world will have the same questions. They will have to live in fear as terrorism spreads its tentacles.

Muslims living abroad will now, undoubtedly, be targeted and harassed. They will have to pay the price for what the terrorists did. In Europe especially, Muslims won’t live comfortably like they once used to. They will always leave their houses with fear in their hearts that they will be considered no less than terrorists. This is the sad reality confronting us.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2015.