On 20th October, we all felt a lurking danger! To lighten up our moods, the three of us whirled out through various corridors of the campus to the café. It was our sanctuary in IIU where we could sit for like five hours in a go on the same bench, discussing everything under the sun. Buying a scrumptious plate of Biryani, one of the reasons that pulled us to university, we indulged in never ending tattles on celebrities, updating each other on latest secrets of friends, sometimes discussing hard core politics, being disgruntled at society, telling family stories and sharing our anger at why are we not doing anything against killings in Waziristan. Later, we took a round to the shopping area and tested and bought kajals and lipsticks.
The café had such an air that the first step in it, brought you up! Girls laughed in raging decibels, hand slapping, and sometimes, the extra-bubbly ones had water fight running around the café which lifted our spirits and we could not help laughing at the whole scene. But, who knew about the doom it was waiting? Who knew, instead of laughing and energizing ourselves, we will cry and weep here? Who knew it will brutally drown some of the smiling faces forever in the clouds of smoke?
The headlines said Blast at IIU which blurred everything. It seemed the world is falling apart. How desperately I prayed it was some sort of a cruel joke? There was a flood of calls from all over the world asking if we are safe. And I wondered about those parents who received the call informing them about the death of their beloved child who they saw off in the morning! Some must have been in too hurry to say good-bye!
There was turmoil in the university. According to the news sources, the first blast occurred at the entrance of the cafeteria at 3:07. The guard Shaukat Bhatti obstructed him from going in, who was shot by the bomber. Then, Pervaiz Masi stopped him, at which the bomber blew himself up. Sabahat of Computer Science told me there were around 300 girls in the cafeteria. Media department 1st semester were having their welcome party. She was sitting at the side wall of the café. She said she felt a strong jolt, and suddenly, it was all dark and the obnoxious smell of explosives saturated their lungs. Some of the girls fainted whereas others were screaming. Rod pierced through one of the girl. Few sighed their last breaths and bled to death. In the midst of this mayhem, there was another blast at Shariah block after 5 minutes. She told me guys from the male campus fled to the café to help the girls. One of the guys asked her to resuscitate the injured girl, but before she could reach, she expired.
And as I sat safe in my home, I wondered about those girls who saw their closest friends dying, the friends who must have thought living together till the end, seeing each other married, making fun of their spouses and babies…But, line got cut in the middle….
One of my classmates Iram lost her best friend, Sidra of BS Mathematics on that day. She has become a legend. She topped the Pindi board. Now, Iram sits reminiscing about her. Her jokes are echoing in her ear. Then she gets startled remembering her face in the coffin, cold and serene, bringing her back to cold reality. She mournfully tells me how she loved wearing colorful, vibrant scarves. She told me that her parents forbade her to go to university due to the threats but she insisted that without education, people have no value.
Some of the major injuries were suffered by BS English 5th semester; since the whole class was almost there. Maria Azam, one of my friends, had been worried about her neighbor and friend Tayyaba, who was also in BS English 5th semester. She was in PAEC and lost the battle of life on 27th Oct. She told me that she was very religious and recently did a course from AL-Huda. She loved the university. I could not help laughing at her guts. She told me that once the group of friends was going somewhere when a thief snatched the bag from one of them. She ran after the thief and got the bag! I saw her innocent face and could not reconcile to the fact that she is no more in this world. I was awed by the life in her. She excelled in all her roles. Her mother considered her the backbone of the house because she kept everything in order.
Amna Batool, though I did not know her personally, but I sometimes saw her on the bus. Last time, I saw her at PIMS and she was beyond recognition. Even today, I can’t believe that such a smiling and intelligent face was the same person lying in ICU.
Countless tears, countless memories, countless wounds, countless thoughts….why did we have to go through that doomsday? What was the sin of those innocent students? How come life became so uncertain, so insignificant, squeezing out of our hands like sand? I wonder if we will ever be able to erase those horrific memories, those cries….but the story doesn’t end here. It is just one of the episodes. The series started when, we don’t know. We don’t know who is behind all this? We have just been forcefully made the actors….the fuel for this war! I wonder if we will ever be able to sleep peacefully after this trauma when a single odd thing reruns the whole scene again. It is ravaging us from inside.
But then I envisage that pair of green eyes, filled with fear, of the child sitting in shattered home at Waziristan, who is muted with the horror of the hovering drone out to kill his family. How long had they been living in this permanent fear? Why did we not ever raise a cry then, when the fire was engulfing our brothers in Northern Areas?
And now the fire has come to our doorstep. We plan to hide in our homes. But, for how long can we shut up ourselves? For how long will we just sit and watch these counts of dead bodies? Our enemies are preparing the hell for us, they are invading our home, but we remain quiet! This silence is Our sin. This is Our tyranny.
This is the price that we are paying for keeping silence at the brutalities in Palestine, and giving our soil to kill our Afghan brothers? This was our first mistake that is plunging us deeper into the abyss. Our Prophet SAW said that Muslims are like parts of the same body. Isn’t it time that all the Muslim countries unite and face the enemy? It is time that we cut off all NATO supplies going through our country, because they are here not to help, but to only destroy us. Remember, by keeping this silence, it is just the handful of years that we are buying, eventually they will turn against us too.
For how long will we feed ourselves on the foreign aid package, the ridiculous Rs.650 a year per person? Is this the price we have set for each other? For how long will we just switch sides between Taliban and Black Water? When will we, the gullible ones, start questioning everything that West wants us to believe? When will we consciously seek the truth and stand up for it? But, do we really care?? Speak Today, or there is no Tomorrow!
:'(
ReplyDeleteLOVE IIUI :((