Pakistan: The terror attack on the university, the Indian mind.

The terror attack on the university campus resulting in the death of a brave Professor and students is grievously sad. The sadness from this inhuman act irrespective of its occurrence in Pakistan, a nation with questionable record on its position of terrorism, cannot be less painful than acts which occur anywhere.  Some fringe elements across the world which includes India may be tempted to derive pleasure from this dastardly attack but that never has been, and will never be the human world view. Such acts can only arouse grief in the collective human mind which in this hour of great sadness is with the brave professor who gave himself as a shield for his students, attending his class. This hour connects Indians with the family of the brave Professor and the families of the students who have fallen to the guns of the ignorant administering the design of the devil.

India and Indians are sad today because the children who were killed in Pakistan last year, in addition to being the children of Pakistan were also the children of the world who knew little of the global realities and threats they were exposed to. They had just got into the kindergarten, while some were in the primaries. In a situation, as which occurred in Peshawar last year, or which happened yesterday in the university campus could have only deserved response similar to that of the brave Professor whose gallant sacrifice now becomes an example to human beings cutting across nationalities. This act as the last, has struck the Indian heart. Nationalities can be divided by boundaries with high walls but would these, in their highness and in their structured aloofness, ever be able to restrict the feelings of the human and its response which finds them irrelevant in such situations.

This is not the hour for sermons to Pakistan; this is an occasion of oneness with the families which alone know what individually and collectively they have lost. It is an occasion of sharing, sharing of the grief which results from such acts of brutality. We were sad and angry when we lost lives in Pathankot and in our moments of grief may have allowed our emotions to have the better of our reason. We failed to realize and accept that there would be a majority of Pakistanis sharing our grief and agony in a similar manner, as we do now, or as we did, when little angels were massacred by the devils of our time at Peshawar last year.  Human response to tragedies is neither fashioned by animosity nor restrained by nationalities as much as it is occasioned by its sensitivities.

Pakistan, one has to accept, is increasingly becoming a victim of terror and a nation in deep trouble but is a member of the comity of nations, and the situation there, a shared responsibility, necessitating a global resolve to help it meet this threat. Pakistan, on its part, has to remember, God helps those who help themselves. Prayers for Pakistan.