Little Anwar* was just nine when he died. He wasn’t suffering from any ailment, he wasn’t retarded in any way, his father had no enmity with anyone, he didn’t die in a road accident, nor was he a victim of a suicide bomber. He died because of a macho’s stray bullet, (ostensibly having a good time trying his new weapon) that hit him right in the head while he was learning to read Quran from a lady on the roof of his house. Death did not come to him instantly, he died some hours later in a hospital. His family is devastated, the pain cannot be described, it is beyond words. I know it because he was my cousin’s son. A lovely boy, always smiling and cheerful. When I went to his father’s house sometime back, I saw a letter written by his class fellows lamenting how much they all missed him. The thought of that letter alone brings tears to the eyes of a harum-scarum slob like me.
Why I am writing such a long premise for a post whose title needs no long introductions is because the pain of loosing someone to a random bullet can only be felt by people who are close to him. It is like nothing imaginable. I have since then wept secretly a number of times. I wish to take the macho who fired that bullet to the court, I want to show him Anwar’s grave, the flowers that have been placed on it, let him hear Anwar’s mother’s woes over and over again, I want to read the letter written by Anwar’s class fellows to him, I want to ask him why in the world did he have to fire in the air that very day; that very hour. I want to drag him in the streets and leave him for dead, let the dogs eat him or worse the vultures bite him while he’s still alive. I want so badly to do things that are shown in ghastly movies.
What do these people with incapacitated brains and bloated egos think? Do they even know that they are having fun at someone’s life expense. Just read papers, surf the web or worst still log on to YouTube or Daily Motion to see these goons having fun, firing in the air with weapons some of which happen to be automatics. The abject disregard of laws by these thugs, total lack of awareness of on the subject by all, and inability of the Government to enforce whatever laws there are on the subject results in countless deaths every year. Some of which happen during marriages and festive events. A small spectacle of this was experienced by me on new Year’s eve just as the clock struck midnight and 2013 rolled over to 2014. There was enough firing at least in Karachi Saddar area that night to make a sane person believe, he was in a war zone.
I will not suggest or recommend or say what needs to be done. Everybody knows what needs to be done. Anyone firing in the air needs to be treated as if he has in fact shot a living man. And why don’t the droves of MNAs and MPAs we have make a few firing ranges for these wily machos? I am sure they can work out a million ways to make a quick buck out of it. It will certainly make them more rich and will also save a couple of hundred lives every year. If they care, that is. Why doesn’t the media (of whose insanity and immaturity there’s no dearth) cover these things? Why don’t start a massive campaign on educating the rich yet ill-mannered millions who resort to this sly practice? And why don’t you and I raise our voices and condemn this ghastly act whenever we see it? This madness has to stop, and it is I and you who need to voice our opinions in a vociferous way.
* Name changed to protect privacy.
My Random Ramblings 