End of Innocence

For the past decade any nationalistic feelings I ever had have been effectively doused. I have noticed that a lot of people suffer along with me in this vicious cycle of terrorism, inflation and lawlessness yet they maintain their levels of patriotism. Hats off to their tenacity. There have been several back to back incidences in the past months that I have considered the last straw, the continued and barbaric ethnic violence, the persecution of minorities, the apathy of the rich class depicted in continued rise in prices of goods that were only a couple of years ago, in the grasp of the middle to lower middle class. Yet what has recently transpired in the so called capital of this so called great nation has cemented my dislike for my own people. Apparently a mentally unstable individual takes his family for a drive, taking not just the essential car keys and spare tire in the vehicle but a few extra condiments. Ammunition. He decides that sight seeing is not enough for the day's agenda so starts to make a little noise and get a little media attention. We all know what happened on that fateful 15th of August in Islamabad. We saw the footage one hundred times whether we wanted to or not. Every one discussed the efficacy of Zamarrud's 'heroic' act, Sikander's lack of terrorist 'skills,' Kanwal's negotiation prowess. The entity that was left out were the kids. Sure they were collateral damage and were used by their 'parents' in the most abusive manner possible but what did the rest of us do? I am sure most mothers were cringing at the footage and every time the children were shown frolicking about such a horrific scene as the one created by this insane couple. It seems no one was responsible for these little lives. Not the media, not the law enforcers, and least of all their parents. It was like watching a morbid mime as Sikander ran his last lap, everyone opened fire while this little boy ran helter-skelter holding an umbrella. According to our new national hero Zamarrud Khan, his priority was the children. I think there can not be a more blatant lie. He was untrained (not that any of the other so called law enforcers around the area were any better trained), wearing formal shoes that slipped on the tarmac, and completely thinking of how glorious it would be to sink his teeth on the media frenzy. If children were his priority he would have negotiated on his behalf more vehemently and patiently rather than going for the jugular so quickly and stupidly, right in front of the children. I must say God still pays attention to our spit of land. It was a smiling fate that save the children that day not Zamarrud Khan!