THE people of Balochistan, deprived and ignored by the quarters concerned, bade farewell to the year 2012 hoping that 2013 might bring them some peace and prosperity.

Unfortunately, the new year proved more savage and bloody than the outgoing one. We lost so many precious lives in bomb attacks. The bloody hurricane of blasts reminded the residents of the earthquake of 1935 in which more than half of the population lost their lives.

The sorry state of affairs and apathy of the government converted the already volatile province into a new complicated conundrum which sadly engulfed the whole province.

This situation reminds me of the following few lines of Kahlil Gibran’s poetry:

Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as a hero Pity the nation that raises not its voice, save when it walks in a funeral Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years And whose strong men are yet in cradle Pity the nation whose statesmen is fox, whose philosopher is a juggler Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation One can say that only the government’s hollow pledges, vows and condemnations would not soothe the wounds inflicted upon the people by their incompetent rulings. It is time serious efforts were made.

This is not a time to raise a hue and cry over the blasts. It is time to find ways and means for lasting peace and saving the people from such bloody massacres.

SHARIF KHAN            Zhob