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WHAT a difficult day Dec 16 was.
The pall of gloom that hung over everyone was palpable. And yet, the ways that were chosen to express grief were, in several cases, not appropriate.
Consider, for example, a photograph from a Quetta school that was published in this newspaper, variations of which were taken across the country and were splashed across all the media. It showed a stage tableau enacted by schoolchildren. Two kids in the seven- or eight-year age group dressed in black, fallen on the ground, their rifles flung aside; another child in white, pistol in his hand and his foot triumphantly on the chest of one of the defeated attackers; a fourth standing by, in a policeman’s costume, holding an assault rifle; and a fifth child to one side, holding the national flag aloft.
Not everyone mourned APS in a befitting manner.
The message is immediately clear: an enactment of the assault on Peshawar’s Army Public School last year, except in this telling of the tragedy, the terrorists are defeated and the country’s honour upheld. Yet what on earth made school authorities across the country — it is important to re-emphasise that this scene was played out in many, many locations as evidenced by what was captured by the television cameras — feel that this was a suitable response to a day that must always remain a stain on the conscience of this nation and its managers?
Have we become so desensitised, so lost to perspective and all sense of proportion, that we see nothing wrong with not just re-enacting the tragedy for the benefit of young children but also teaching the latter that it will be their job to respond to violence through violence? That a gun in hand is the only way to counter violence? Sadly, yes.
But then, perhaps I should not be feeling any outrage given that in the immediate aftermath of that massacre, amongst the many irresponsible responses was the measure floated by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, no less, to allow staff and students at educational institutions to carry weapons. The idea was that they should be able to ‘protect’ themselves and act as the first line of defence should the unthinkable happen. On the national level, too, similar calls led police departments in some cities to conduct weapons-training exercises with students and their teachers.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government later withdrew the suggestion and the central government also eventually hushed up — but not before at least one student was killed in school when a gun that a teacher was cleaning in the staff room went off by accident, and at least three students were injured when guns being carried in untrained hands were fired in error. We must also think of these children (and their families) killed or injured as they were for such a grotesque reason.
Dec 16 occurred as a result of the many sins of commission and omission on part of the Pakistani establishment, successive governments and, yes, also its people over the decades; these are what crafted the contours of the environment that allowed such an unthinkable act of violence to occur. The anniversary last week was a difficult day because instead of contemplative mourning and a collective reflection on where we have gone wrong, there was an outpouring of graceless bravado. True, there were quieter, more poignant memorials, where names were recalled and tears were shared. But then, there was also much loud rhetoric that was an affront to the memory of the children and the adults who died that day.
Where this was the response of sections of the media and the citizenry, what was the response of the government? I refer not to moves such as the National Action Plan and other laws/measures meant to combat terrorism, or the decision to lift the moratorium on executions, but to concrete steps taken to help the survivors, their families, and those of the victims.
Even as functions were being held at governmental platforms commemorating the anniversary, complaints were being aired that not all the compensation promised had been made. Some families of those injured on Dec 16 last year continue to need help in terms of medical treatment, and the state has not been as forthcoming as it ought to have been. Grief counselling has been piecemeal (though here one has to admit, is it even possible to counsel those that have witnessed such scenes, or those who have lost children or siblings in such a manner).
Dec 16 last week was awkward perhaps because country and polity were aware that, despite having endured years of blood-drenched violence, with tens of thousands killed — or perhaps because of it — our perspective has become skewed; what else can be concluded when there are responses such as news anchors dressing up in APS uniforms, as though mocking the dead with the life that still courses through their own veins.
The writer is a member of staff.
Published in Dawn, December 21st, 2015
