A suicide bomber blew himself up and took the lives of, as of writing this, 81 innocent civilians. It is one of the worse, inhumane, barbaric, cowardly act of terrorism on Pakistani soil. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, proudly claimed responsibility of this shameful, barbaric act, stating that this would continue if the United States did not stop drone strikes against Taliban and Al-Qaeda operatives (read: terrorists).
The attack took place in a Church, on Sunday, when many church goers were packed into that place. The victims were ordinary human beings like you, and like me. Their tragic death shook the nation, and many mourned their deaths.
The Pakistani government did condemn the attack, but is still afraid of speaking out too much against these terrorists, and the government response stopped short of action against the terrorists to bring them before law. Both, the PML-N government at the center and the PTI government of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa failed to take any actions.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s, cold-blooded and indifferent attitude in the face of times when a person’s free will becomes their crime, their conscience becomes their sin and their presence at the wrong place at the wrong time becomes their punishment, horrifies many Pakistanis: many of those who voted for them in the 2013 general elections.
Why, one may ask, is the government so hesitant in condemning terrorism? The answer my lie in the fact that the PTI is too inclined towards the Taliban, promoting the banned terrorist outfit as “our people”, and has vowed to protect and shield them from a military operation by the Pakistan Army, or the US surgical Drone strikes, and the fact that the PML-N, a party whose leadership rose to prominence during the Zia-ul-Haq regime are too sympathetic to the extremists.
People voted for a “Change” and for the Sharifs, and here it is, though not quite the change they voted for.
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