I REMEMBER going to see my grandparents in southern Punjab every summer holiday. Unlike many other schoolchildren, I would not sleep for a single second and enjoy every bit of my journey. I would not let my mother sleep either as I kept asking her about fields, birds and huts that I used to see on my way.

Time flew quickly and I grew up and could not get time out of my tough schedule to travel, especially with my family.

A few days back I finally got the chance to travel to Lahore from Islamabad with my sister and her kids. I was very excited, much more than my three- and five-year-old nephews. We travelled in a bus. My nephews were seated with me on the very last row. They were not asking me anything about things they saw from the bus like I used to ask my mother.

My younger nephew then asked his elder brother about the luggage compartment. “When we were getting on the bus, what was that huge room down there under the bus?”

His elder brother answered, “Don’t you know there can be bombers and gunmen anywhere on the road and they can attack us. These rooms are to hide ourselves in --- in case of an attack.”

I didn’t have words to express what it made me feel. They were not enjoying their journey but were scared of attackers. I grew up in peace and serenity, but we are passing on to our next generation fear, uncertainty, insecurity and a devastated thinking process.

How can we expect them to progress?

Sana Mushtaq
Islamabad