Tuesday, 3rd March 2009 was a sad day for the entire Pakistani nation.Chagrin is probably the best word I can use to describe the feelings my friends and I had when we first heard the news. Our Behavioral sciences class was postponed and since exams are just about a month away my friends - Anum, Misbah and I decided to make use of that one hour instead of just idling in the cafeteria or the common room, and so we headed to the reading area to catch up with all the lessons taught. We had just spent 25 mins of our time studying when suddenly Misbah's cell phone vibrated ( something that happens very often..shes pretty social) and then I saw her jaw hang down in surprise.
" What ? " I whispered. She handed me her phone to look at a text msg.
People in Lahore paying their tributes to the security personnel who laid their lives while protecting the Sri Lankan team
It read
" Sri Lankan cricket team attacked in Lahore !!!" . Well obviously this shocking piece of information shook us out of our concentration on studies and the anticipation to know more did nothing to help it.Misbah replied to that msg asking to know more. We were upset and disgusted that the Sri Lankan team , our guests, had to witness such an event in Pakistan and we were furious on those stupid terrorists who were inhuman enough to do such a thing. These terrorists who ever or where ever they are, Mumbai or Lahore, have no loyalty to any nation or religion. Their lord seems to be the devil, they'll do whatever is necessary to see people in pain.Its sad that these terrorists had to choose sports as their target , sports which serves to unite people and provide entertainment.Its specially upsetting because Pakistan is a country where cricket has a great lot of fans who'll probably not be able to watch International teams playing in their homegrounds for quite a while. But the best part of it all is that the Sri Lankan team and the Sri Lankan govt reacted in a very wise and positive manner. They said that they will never regret coming to Pakistan, infact they praised the policemen who sacrificed their lives to protect them. The Sri Lankan team especially praised the driver of their bus and gave him their shirts as a souvenir, for he drove through the bullets to take them to a safe place. This was indeed a positive bahaviour and I am sure it discouraged the terrorists who were perhaps aiming to sever Pak- Lanka ties. It is by standing united stronger than ever that we may be able to defeat those terrorists who are a pain to mankind.
For now I am thankful to god that none of the players were seriously injured and am apologetic towards the Sri Lankan team that such a thing had to happen. But I'd also like to honour all those police men who stood up against those terrorists and sacrificed their lives to save the team
Well! First I must say that your blog is very interesting to read. I guess although I have gone through only about 10% now, boy am I really impressed!!
ReplyDeleteBut there is something that hit me when I saw the picture! Don't you realize that the way these people are 'paying their tributes' to the martyrs of that unfortunate incident is not a part of our culture/religion/social values.
Putting flowers around a picture is traditional Hindu way to remember their dead. We could have had a Quran-Khwani or similar event in wake of our heroes.
Well those are just my 2 cents!!
And once again I must say you are doing a great job !! Keep it coming.
^_^
Cheers
Joji