A TV anchor while commenting on the Peshawar incident held that we faced this because we have been sowing the seeds for this for the last 40 years and are now harvesting.

He also said God Almighty is not happy with us and those who shoulder the bodies of their innocent children are being punished by God.

This is an insult to the injured parents, family and friends who lost the innocent children to the bestial fury of terrorists. It has become a routine for the majority of such arm-chair philosophers that they label the victims of man-made disaster as targets of nature’s wrath. Be it the earthquake of 2005, floods of 2010 or major terrorist attacks, the poor victims are, time and again, reminded that God is not happy with them.

The mullah and the so-called intellectuals forget that the majority of the victims from natural and man-made disasters belongs to lower and middle classes. And lacking wherewithal, they are most vulnerable. The upper class has bullet-proof vehicles, armies of guards, most strongly-built mansions with state-of-art security apparatus. Thus, the rate of risks for the elite is minimum.

Similarly, the list of presumed sins compiled by the bearded and clean-shaven mullahs in the shape of opinion-makers is directly related to the elite club of the population.

Poor women wrap themselves from head to toe while venturing outside home. The poor hardly drink alcohol, and never indulge in ‘vulgarity’. The poor also remember God Almighty all the time and implore Him for improving their lot.

Why should they then be a target of God’s wrath while the elite commit ‘sins’ without asking for forgiveness and remain relatively safe from disasters, both man-made and natural? God is merciful and the above-mentioned opinion-makers are misinterpreting our religion.

Gulsher Panhwer

Johi

Published in Dawn, December 22th, 2014