We’re never given to pessimism. The latest series of events have exposed reality again and the facade of civility in this nation. I am truly traumatised.
The brutalisation of Hazaras yet again is nothing but a symptom of the larger malaise within our society, bereft of all forms of tolerance, whether toward belief systems, racial or ethnic diversity, or gender parity.
When injustice is breeding in every crevice, how else would you expect a constantly butchered populace to react than to refuse to bury the victims as a last sign of protest?
When I first glanced at the news of the unspeakable terror attack on the Macch victims, I initially passed it off in disbelief, defiantly wishing that it was just an older event being reported again, or one that simply hadn’t taken place.
Who was I kidding? By now, don't we all know that there is an inevitability to the Hazaras’ fate?
And yet, when the details began to emerge, I wondered at the unfathomable violation that so-called human beings could inflict on fellow human beings, on the very faces created with love and affection by the Creator.
Alas in the predictable aftermath, insult was added to injury when the leadership of Pakistan, true to form, came up short on every count: empathy, words, deeds.
Today, the whole nation hangs its head in shame and in utter despair. Yes, for the oppressed Hazara community, the manufactured words of comfort from a champion of the downtrodden may have sufficed for a day. However, the deep wounds given us by the hatred of the enemy, both within and without, may only heal when the Ultimate scales are set up, and then only shall one truly appreciate the real victor and the vanquished.
Till then, we are all Hazaras.