How many deaths will take it til they know that too many people have died?
Innocence lost, lives brutally snatched away. Weeping women, stunned men, dead children.
It becomes easy to lose count of the terrorist attacks when they happen in rapid-fire succession. It becomes easier still to keep from crying, as the deaths desensitize you time and time again.
But some things become harder.
It becomes harder to call extremists “Islamic” when they insist on killing students at segregated Islamic universities. It becomes harder for men like Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan to watch the families of the victims wail in agony, since their sympathies are only for terror suspects killed by American drones. It becomes harder still to box extremism in the far-flung regions of the country.
I see something in the images of terror’s after-math. Amidst blood-splattered rubble lies a complicated reality: extremism is not just in FATA and the NWFP. It is slowly seeping into the heartland of Pakistan and will continue this trend; it has already reared its ugly head in the capital city of Islamabad, and threatens the urban centers of Lahore and Karachi. The entire country is on its way to a culture of fear and paralysis.
Pakistanis must, absolutely must acknowledge this. When will the country realize that the problems and failings of Pakistan can never be pegged on conspiracy theories, involving any combination of Israel, America and India? The problems are home-grown, the failings are organic.
To save Pakistan, we must realize that extremism is breeding, at an alarming rate, throughout the nation. The threats are real, sickening in their unreasonable goals.
Just look at who they have killed.
The dead are not enemies of Islam. They are teachers, police officers, aid workers, students, children too young to even understand why someone can hate. The victims are ordinary, hard-working Pakistanis, they lived with allegiance to their country’s flag and wanted a stable life. They are dead, and undoubtedly more will die. But the question is…how many more deaths will it take before Pakistanis fight back and save their nation?
