As a child I always looked forward to Eid day because our family would eat ravenously, devouring everything in sight not only in our own home, but those we visited to share Eid greetings and blessings. Today, however, it is we who are being devoured, eaten from the inside by terrorism.
In Quetta, terrorists killed ten people and wounded dozens of others leaving a mosque on Eid day.
In Bara Kahu, a guard shot and killed a would-be suicide bomber after the attacker’s explosive vest failed to detonate – but not before the terrorist was able to shoot three innocents in his path.
Those attending a funeral the day before were not as fortunate when a suicide bomber killed 38 people including dozens of police officials outside a mosque in Quetta.
This is only a taste the latest blood shedding from the past 48 hours.
It was less than two weeks since suicide bombers in Parachinar killed 57 innocents and wounded nearly 200 more in an attack that was clearly targeted against Shia.
Days before this attack took place, terrorists detonated bombs outside local ISI office in Sukkur to show that we cannot count on even the nation’s premier intelligence agency to protect us.
Authorities are scheduled to hang two LeJ terrorists later this month, but even that will be little deterrent to terrorists when leader of LeJ Malik Ishaq is still freely organizing terrorist attacks against innocents. Here is Ishaq preaching violence to a recent gathering, joined by his accomplice Ahmed Ludhianvi and kalashnikov wielding gunmen.
While all of this is happening under our noses, I listened to my friends and family wishing for a peaceful Eid holiday as if nothing had happened. Wishing won’t stop terrorism. We are being devoured by the cancer of extremism and militancy, and still we are pretending that if we wish hard enough it will go away. It won’t.
This year, terrorists have turned a day of joy into a day of mourning. So forgive me if I cannot join you in the feast this year. Ramzan may be over, but my appetite is gone.
