As a Peace-Loving Pakistani, I Too Condemn the Pulwama Attack

I condemn the attack not out of how good or virtuous we are but out of compassion for human life.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/The Quint)

On 14 February, when the whole world was celebrating the day of love, a worshipper of odium and hate went against the universal theme of the day by killing the breadwinners of over 40 households, by slaughtering not just jawans but the hopes of their families, and tarnishing the already volatile state of tranquility that had been in place between the two nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours.

Adil Dar claimed to be the representative of all Kashmiri Muslims and their views. But in my opinion, he has done something which (if my knowledge on world religions serves me right) is strongly condemnable in every religion of the world.

The very act of taking someone’s life amounts not just to cowardice but also barbarism.

As a Pakistani who has seen his own country becoming a prey to the menace of terrorism, and as someone who is peace-loving and anti-war, the terror attack makes my heart weep and curse all those who are enemies of peace.

Attack Should be Condemned Regardless of Nationality and Religion

What happened in Pulwama is condemnable no matter what religion I belong to, no matter whether I speak Urdu, Hindi or Dogri and no matter what nationality I have.

Those who believe that by following a certain religion or by having a certain country’s nationality stamped on their passport exempts them from grieving or at least condemning this heinous crime against humanity need to rethink.

The attack is not just oriented around Kashmir or India but it is connected to a global loss of life at the hands of terror perpetrated and perpetuated unfortunately in the name of a religion, which just like other religious denominations teaches peace and celebrates human life and existence.

Whatever little knowledge I have about the religion of Islam, I do know that the Quran mentions “Killing one human soul is like killing all of humanity.” I’m not an advocate of any one religion but I do consider myself an advocate of peace and sanity. There are many other peace-loving Pakistanis like me, from all walks of life, who are grieving the loss of life in Pulwama and we do stand with Indians in this time of grief and agony.

However, it saddens us to see that hate is being spewed on social media against us and our country with full vigour, and we are being collectively blamed for what has happened in Pulwama. We are being shown complicit in a mass murder which can only be the brainchild of a barbaric individual.

I, along with bunch of my close friends, even observed a two-minute silence the day we came to know about this ghastly attack.

Peace-loving Pakistanis like me lament the carnage in Pulwama – not out of any desire to flaunt how good or virtuous we are but out of compassion for human life and the bereaved families of the victims.

In the end, I wanna say that if any badla (revenge) has to be taken then it has to be taken against the divisive and diabolical mindset which thrives on terror attacks like Pulwama, Peshawar school terror attack in 2014, or the Paris attack in November 2015.

(All 'My Report' branded stories are submitted by citizen journalists to The Quint. Though The Quint inquires into the claims/allegations from all parties before publishing, the report and the views expressed above are the citizen journalist's own. The Quint neither endorses, nor is responsible for the same.)