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Life becomes cheaper than bullet
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Visits
640
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Visits
640
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Visits
640
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August 10, 2012
Life today is just a tragedy of uncertainty. Making it home alive at the end of the day is not guaranteed. It is sad to see millions of Pakistanis embarking on this journey on a daily basis, not knowing whether this would be their last or, would they be lucky enough to see another day.
Untimely deaths are a regrettable occurrence of everyday life here, and, what makes hair stand on end is the fact that nothing is being done to manage this chaos. Be it the drone strikes, target killings, acts of terrorism or violence in general, the authorities have been nothing more than just mere spectators watching from the side-lines. As the citizens wait for those in-charge to take notice of the situation, an end to this game of death is nowhere in sight.
Media reports over the past years have put an ugly picture of Pakistan in front of the world. The impunity with which lives are ended poses questions that are beyond the realms of the peoples’ sanity. They come, they kill, and then, they disappear like smoke, leaving behind many shattered dreams and countless destroyed homes.
The government, whose primary purpose is to provide security, does nothing but issue out statements and dish out hollow sympathies. Meanwhile, life keeps on getting cheaper and cheaper. Where is the law? Why is the writ of the state trampled at will?
Be it Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or Gilgit-Baltistan, the tragedy remains the same. Some are killed for money, some for political loyalties, and some in the name of not following the desired faith, while others die because of old fashioned animosity. The question is who enables these people who harbour mal-intent towards the country and its citizens?
The Hazaras of Balochistan are being targeted because of their religious beliefs. They are the unfortunate victims of the pseudo jihadist mindset which does nothing, but further damage the image of a tolerant Islam. Similar is the case of Karachi, the financial and industrial capital of Pakistan. Lives are lost almost daily; people of certain ethnic and political affiliations are targeted, further fuelling the city’s decades old legacy of terror.
One thing is for sure, these stateless actors find breeding grounds here because, they enjoy the support of those running the day to day affairs of this country. How else would such ruthless disregard for life be able to survive? They flourish because there are elements in our society that need their services to ensure maximum profit.
Pakistan is cursed with a panicked existence; it is a panic that has settled into the very core of the society. The open display of arms in the cities and the never-ending tug-of-war for supremacy are facts that do not surprise anyone anymore; they can be seen at political rallies, with the escorts and convoys of the elite; comically, they have even become a part of birthdays and weddings.
The writ of the state has got to be established. Demarcated lines do not make a nation; it is the people who live within those lines that make it so. Dreaming of a Pakistan that is free of arms and the malice that arises from it needs to be worked upon.
The gravity of the situation on the ground dictates that drastic measures need to be taken by the state machinery in order to ensure the safety of its citizens. No one should be allowed to own weapons of any sort except for law-enforcement and security agencies, and the armed forces -- at least not for the time being. Massive crackdown operations against these armed groups are a necessity of these desperate times.
The uncertainty of life that people suffer from needs to be addressed fast. A man should be able to go about his day without the fear of not making it home at night. Living in fear creates obstacles in the pursuit of a good life; these doubts have got to be cleared so that normalcy in every sphere of life can be achieved. The scary notion of life being cheaper than a bullet has to be rectified. The right people for the right job, it is as simple as that. A man can belong to any ethnicity, any faith, and any political school of thought, no one has the right to act as the executioner regardless of whether it pleases them or not. It is in the acceptance of diversity that Pakistan will ultimately prosper.
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