An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
Even in 2014, no one is really safe anywhere.
Does violence have to beget more violence? Are we as progressive humans regressing into creatures that do not comprehend pain and indulge in shock value to keep ourselves prominent? These questions, I believe, need to be answered at the earliest before it is too late to undo any wrongdoings against mankind.
In the last week alone, the world has seen indescribable pain and terror in three isolated incidents. Pakistan, Nigeria and Australia have all been struck by terror. Islamist jihadists whether it is the Taliban, the Boko Haram or the lone radical Man Haron Monis, have wreaked havoc in a way most of us can’t process. Since the attacks, I want to take a look at what reparative measures are being taken to protect the innocent and bring accused to justice.
Let me start by clarifying that no amount of writing about my empathy for the situation can justify the pain the mothers, fathers, siblings, extended family and friends are going through.
For Pakistan’s latest tragedy comparable to America’s 9/11, #Peshawarkillings is more than just a trending topic on Twitter. Summed up in a # and two words are the lives of 140 children. Children, who are the future of Pakistan. Innocents, who have done nothing to deserve the gory, ignominious death while at school. Apart from home, a child in any part of the world feels safe in a school, and for the 140 a military run school will have been the safest.
Vigils and prayers marked the event, but Pakistan was quick to act. A rather Biblical punishment on those languishing in prison, will be meted out by Pakistan’s top brass. Without any signs of haste, the deadly attack spurred Pakistan to rescind the four-year moratorium on the death penalty. Reports of Pakistan’s plan to execute 55 death row inmates, who have no connection to the Peshawar killings, are now making headlines. On Monday, four prisoners accused of attempting to assassinate ex-President Pervez Musharraf in 2003 and a failed attack on the military in 2009 have already been executed.
Does this justify what happened to the children in Peshawar? I agree, that the inmates have committed crimes, but should they pay for crimes other than those they stand accused of. In an ideal world, that would be a no-no. This decision to execute the 55 inmates on death row is meant to appease a population that is in grief.
Tensions between my motherland and Pakistan are instantly forgotten in the face of this terrorising nightmare. But we’re more than neighbours aren’t we? Shouldn’t a brother guide you when you go astray? The Taliban is threatening to carry out more of these attacks, – on innocents – stage jailbreaks and free more prisoners if Pakistan lived up to its promise. A barter shouldn’t even be entertained here, but in light of what may happen in the future, it is best to keep the ones already captured in prison and concentrate the nation’s resources to finding who is responsible for this heinous crime.
Intensifying the countermilitancy campaign in the trial belt by the Pakistani military is a tactical move, but will only prod the Taliban into retaliating andgiven Pakistan’s history with collateral damage, will either push the surviving into the Taliban or turn to vigilantes.
Since vigilantes came up, this turns my focus to Nigeria. Since 2009, school children, women, the elderly and any non-Muslim in sight has been kidnapped, tortured, raped, burned, and lynched. “Western education is sin,” according to Abubakar Shekau, a proponent of the Shariah law and leader of the Boko Haram, terrorists who kidnapped 200 Christian school girls, none of whom we have heard of since they became #bringourgirlsback on Twitter. Celebrities held up placards with these words, nations had meetings, help poured in but as is evident from the reports in Nigeria, the youth and incapacitated military have had to help themselves. With nothing but sticks, stones and makeshift weapons, the civilian Joint Task Force and women in particular have braved their way through recent tragedies.
The latest report from Nigeria is the mindless assassination of elderly men and others branded “infidels,” at a school in Bama near Gwoza, Nigeria. Why a school, much less the elderly are important questions to ponder on? Why isn’t anyone doing anything about this horror? Vigils and prayers are pouring in but as a nation in pain, nothing is being done in terms of alleviating that sorrow. Yes, there are efforts from vigilantes that can be justified as acts of self-defence, but does more killing reduce that?
Sydney is lucky compared to the two third world countries put together. Justice was served in good measure, when the lone gunman was shot, not before he took down two innocents. Again vigils and prayers filled Martin Place, but the unprecedented coverage the siege received shows that terror big or small affects us in ways we cannot imagine. Protective measures are warranted, but Australia has resources that Nigeria and Pakistan lack, so it is understandable for the land Down Under to carry out corrective measures that are politically correct.
My focus on Sydney’s terror siege is lesser than what I’ve gleaned from Pakistan and Nigeria, simply because as a third world country citizen I come from situations that are more real to me than Sydney’s. I see the helplessness we have been reduced to and wonder if more can or should be done to help us. It is now time for help from the first world countries who once reigned us, took our possessions and sought to bring order in our supposed primitive and chaotic world to actually step up their game now.
What saddens me further is the negativity surrounding Islam. The religion that bears a striking resemblance to Christianity and shares its roots with Judaism, is a religion that advocates peace. A few disorientated and disillusioned members of the faith, have misinterpreted the Prophet’s teachings making the few who imbibe the essence of the faith, victims of ignorant Islamophobia in the face of these attacks.
I have only touched on a few salient points in this piece, and believe that most of us are thinking about the same things I do. As citizen journalists, I believe that as news makers we have to raise our voices for and against things that happen to the very people who make the news. I hope to use the platform of the written word to discuss what we can and must do to protect ourselves from descending into the darkeness we have taken so long to ascend from.
Violence does not have to beget violence. It must lead us to question why these senseless acts of violence are justified and push those in power to act on behalf of the helpless. For no matter what, an eye for an eye can never be justified.
Opinion by Rathan Harshavardan
Sources:
BBC
The Daily Mail
The Guardian
Images courtesy Flickr