Dear Bisma, you will be forgotten and there will be more like you

I don't know how your family will cope. But Bilawal Bhutto passed safely and will find a loophole out of the inquiry.

Dear Bisma,

Although there is much uproar as to how tragically you passed away yesterday, it is unfortunate that in a few days’ time, this case, like every other, will be dusted under the carpet and forgotten as a new Bisma will come into being. It never stops.

I hope wherever you are, there is justice. I am glad you do not have to grow up knowing that the lives of us citizens are not as important as security protocols. I am glad that you are not subjected to the violence you may have faced like more than three-fourths of our women do, or that you will never know what it feels like to go hungry or feel like you are fainting without basic necessities such as electricity and water in the heat.

You will not be robbed; you will not shake each time you stand alone at a bus stand, because really, anything can happen. You will not walk on the same ground that has soaked up so much blood, nor will you have to piece back your life when it is shaken by a bomb blast. Heaven may be your best chance at education, because here, it is taboo to go to school, especially for girls.

But I am sorry. I am sorry you will not be able to see your parents’ faces as they watch you take your first step, or the tired face of your father when he comes back home each day trying to earn enough for your school fees. I apologise that you cannot climb into your mother’s arms after a hard day, because Bisma, she loves you so much. There will not be any secret treats slipped to you by your family, no whispered gossip to your friends. You will not know how it feels to wear lipstick for the first time, to watch Karachi’s sunsets, to sit at the beach and feel the sand. You do not know how this city lights up, or how the world will one day look at Pakistan and salute.

Bisma, you’re gone, and I do not know how your family will cope, or how you would have affected this world. But Bilawal Bhutto passed safely and he will find a loophole out of the inquiry.

Do not let him. Ask God, please, to give our people strength. To those who can read behind a screen, bring others out onto the streets and do not let the killers of our children get away. We cannot lose any more Bismas, we simply cannot afford for any more lives to be lost.

How much more can this land take? Have mercy, please.

Love,

A Pakistani girl