"It was 21st of Ramazan when a dreadful incident occurred in my life,” the young man says. He was attending a religious meeting in Lahore when the first bomb went off. He remembers seeing body parts ‘hovering in the air’ and then the sounds of screams coming through thick smoke. A suicide bomber triggered the second explosion as rescuers were loading the wounded into ambulances and he was forced to watch helplessly as one of his friends succumbed to his wounds. He does not remember hearing the third bomb, another suicide blast.

By the end of the day, 31 people were said to be dead and at least 170 had been wounded, although the full toll of suffering will probably never be known. As an angry mob set fire to a local police station in protest, the prime minister condemned the attacks as “cowardly acts of terrorism” and promised that those “playing with the lives of innocent people would not escape the law of the land.”

More than two years have passed since that day, but the man remains haunted by what he witnessed. “I started hating terrorists and held responsible government for that awful occurrence,” he says. “There is no assurance of one’s life in Pakistan. Why are thousands of innocents being killed every year? We need good governance and rule of law in our country.”

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 19th, 2014

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.