Why should I live in Pakistan?

When I heard of fellow reporter Wali Khan Babar's death, I asked myself: why should I stay here now?

Natasha Raheel January 16, 2011


It’s not okay when you switch on the TV to find out that someone you know has become a victim of target killing. It’s not okay to see that because it leaves you with a hundred unanswered questions about why you are still living in this country.

That’s how I felt yesterday when I heard the news that Wali Khan Babar, a fellow reporter and my senior in university, was shot dead in an incident of target killing.

As the news kept flashing images of him over and over again, I was reminded of him – clad in huge sunglasses and a red T-shirt – around the corridors of my department. It’s hard to know that someone I laughed with was killed in such a way.

Although I am not in a position to judge him professionally, I can say that he was definitely a funny and caring guy.

What he did wasn’t something extraordinarily brave – he had a normal job as a reasonable journalist. But what he received in return is what is extraordinary – death.

In my opinion, this country is not worth living in anymore because Wali’s death speaks volumes of how Pakistan has become an out-dated noun.

In international relations we learn that the basic unit of the whole system is a country which comprises nation and state.

Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, origins, and history; and state refers to the set of governing and supportive institutions that have sovereignty over a definite territory and population.

However, in Pakistan one gets killed for belonging to a certain ethnicity, for speaking your mind about religion, for being poor, for being honest, for being rational and with all that happening there is no writ of the government.

How can you live in a county when it’s not even a country anymore?

I chose to stay in Pakistan while my friends moved abroad. I made it my home because I have my people here.

But, I feel, that maybe I made the wrong choice. I ask myself, why I should stay here now, when the state cannot even guarantee the security of the people I know?

WRITTEN BY:
Natasha Raheel Designation: Sub-Editor Department: Sports Type: Head
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (77)

HIRA KHALID | 13 years ago | Reply LOVE PAKISTAN OR LEAVE IT If you are really tired of living here, go ahead, move to the country of your chose. If u donot need your country then i being Pakistani say to you that we also donot need you people. We can make things right by our own, we true patriots are more than enough to make things normal. A country that was born on 27th of Ramadan could never remain in such a crises forever, change is near...
tehmina tariq | 13 years ago | Reply If one was to stop watching the sensational, negative TV channels, forget the past, be involved and start interacting in a positive way with members of our community, we may get out of this depression about our country. We need to have the courage to publically condemn those who only preach hate and are absolute hypocrites. Maybe then we can start moving forward. What we give is what we get.
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