Fear in Pakistan: Hitchcock, the Taliban and us
Sometimes I feel like I am Melanie Daniels from Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” A 1963 suspense horror film,The Birds is depicts Bodega Bay, California, which is suddenly and for unexplained reasons, the subject of a series of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few days. If you think about Pakistan, you can’t help but compare the birds in the film with the Taliban and militant groups . If only we could study what motivates them to carry out such acts. Of course, getting a terrorist to sit through a psychology experiment as a volunteer would be pretty ...
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In memoriam: Abdul Wahab
Peace jirgas are groups of local elders from different tribal agencies who have decided to say no to terrorism. Their cause is to give a normal life to their families and they have decided to side with the army and government of Pakistan in an attempt to get rid of the insurgency in their area. In pursuit of peace they have often come under attack from misguided people who have gone to the extent of taking precious human lives, just because they think they are right and everyone else is wrong. They killed more than 40 people in Mohmand Agency yesterday (Tuesday) ...
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Troubles that follow
Panic comes easy to Karachi. Whether its suicide attacks or target killings, you will most certainly be affected no matter how far you are from the incident. Most recently it was the attack on the Criminal Investigation Department. The sound of the explosion was heard miles away. Sitting in a classroom attending a lecture, everyone around me went quiet till it was ascertained there was a blast somewhere. The suicide attacks were executed far from the institute, the students remained distracted and all classes had to be called off. Although clearly, this was not because of the terrorist attack itself but ...
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Survivors, not killers
Pakistan is a brave nation. It takes a lot of guts for a people to continue on after a year that can only be called the year of death: 8,000 people have died in Pakistan this year – devastating floods, a dumbfounding air crash, deplorable target killings and decimating suicide bombings. And the year hasn’t even ended yet. Those from northern Pakistan have had it the worst. The year opened with a deadly blast that killed 94 people who had gathered to watch a volleyball match in Lakki Marwat in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, quashing all hopes that Pakistanis had had that this ...
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