Swat is burning!

By: Bibi Jan

Farewell beautiful mountains, gurgling streams, roaring rivers, fragrant orchards, place of beauty, peace and serenity.

Swat our homeland burns, as flames of terror spread through our homes and back yards. Fanned by hatred of the government and a sense of hopelessness, the high cost of living and unemployment is being exploited by those who gain by lining their own pockets at our expense.

In Swat, where everyone is interrelated and each adjoining village is full of relatives, there can be no victory, but only sorrow. For whichever side wins we all loose, each death can only represent someone we know, we love and care about. It will likely be young men that could have lived long productive lives or men who support families or innocent children who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We have been sideliners and pretty much kept away from conflict, but this recent takeover by hardliner mullahs have split families. It is hard to explain this hatred that we have transferred to the local representatives of the Government or the followers of the hardliners. Either side is one of our own. We feel the pain.

It is an awful time; many old scores are being settled in the guise of cross fire. Those who could afford it left when the schools were shut down, others left on Eid while we watched in silence. Yet of all the shameful things possible, to witness the horror of heads impaled on sticks being paraded around is beyond words. Has God abandoned us or is this divine punishment?

Take your war somewhere else; we do not need any more hatred.

(Courtesy: www.pukhtunwomen.com )