SOS from D.I.Khan. Why have Police and Army failed to protect Shias in D.I. Khan?
D I Khan bomb blast
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
So attuned have we become to living in an age of violence that we now barely seem to notice acts of terror unless they kill a significant number of people. Indeed these incidents often barely make it into the news. Human life it seems has become increasingly dispensable. Murder no longer moves us. The cycle bomb blast in the town of Dera Ismail Khan ranks as a minor incident by our standards. Only six people died. This no longer counts as a high number. But the unexplained incident is an example of the regular, almost constant violence that we now live amidst. There seems to be no escape from it.
There have as yet been few studies of the impact this violence has on people. The fact is though that fear is now a part of life. Everywhere, people tend to avoid public places that they believe could be targeted by terrorists. The kinds of lives we lead have changed. The question is whether anything can be done to ensure that these changes do not become permanent ones. Incidents such as that at D I Khan are reminders of the challenges we face. So far, when such blasts or acts of other random killings have taken place in the past, we have seldom received information as to who carried them out, or why. This failure to bring people to any kind of justice only adds to the insecurity and air of uncertainty that exists everywhere. It has created a sense of trauma that exists in many places, despite the resilience of people accustomed to fending for themselves. But the fact is that as the situation continues to worsen, fewer and fewer are able to do so. The poor, such as those who died in the latest act of random terror, are the most vulnerable, the most likely to be killed in bazaars, in the streets or in other places. The state must move in now to protect these people and re-establish its role as an institution able to bring order to the lives of its citizens. (The News)
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SOS from Pakistan – Save Pakistani Shias Petition