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December 16, 2014: I still remember I was at home and my cousin`s kids were visiting us. It was around noon and we were playing games on iPad and then drove to nearby market, bought kurkarey, took a happy selfie and came back. It was then when I read tweets about the attack on army school in Peshawar. After the initial shock of a terrorist attack on a school, the concern was for the safety of people there. They were more or less of the same age as of the kids sitting right next to me playing on tablet. Unfortunately rest is history as we ended the day with 144 grieving families and millions mourning. It was a day when actually streets of Lahore were less crowded, a day when parking of restaurants were empty. I could not leave my room that day; it remains one of the darkest days of my life and this nation. Words fail when one try to write about it, there are too many stories. As a brother, I cannot imagine losing my siblings to something like this, hard to imagine what goes in the mind and hearts of those parents and kids who lost their sons and brothers.
One year on, it can be considered as somewhat a turning point in our recent history. We have at least somewhat admitted (rather reluctantly) that there are no strategic assets and we need to eradicate everything which promotes hatred and discrimination. But we have long way to go, this war cannot be won in far flung mountains of Wazirisitan, the battle is also raging right in the heart of Gulberg, Lahore. Carpet bombing might wipe out their arsenal and hideouts but until you address the issues like social, religious and economic discrimination in our daily lives, this won`t stop. We need to rise above all of this; schools, parents, teachers, friends, mentors, religious scholars and institutions need a better collaborative effort. Yes, Muslim can do bad things and they are doing it, not just APS but we have children being beaten, raped, murdered, and kidnapped on daily basis. About time we stop blaming everything on one country or the other and clean up our own mess.
So yes please change DPs, please write long statuses and letters, please make videos (I did all of the above myself) but please tomorrow try to pay tribute to them in another way. Be empathetic to people around you, embrace any differences or disagreements based on any social, religious & political factors and lets all agree to disagree. Banning one community or blaming one country won’t help. So next time you see or hear something that you totally disagree with, please go ahead and disagree but please understand the worth of one life.
Today it might be the 144 families in Peshawar or the 15 in Parachinar grieving but come tomorrow, this fire will reach you, me and everyone.
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