These are also our children

The Peshawar tragedy unnerved the entire nation, because of the way innocent children and their teachers were put to death for no fault of theirs. However, we forget that in another part of the country, children there are still dying needlessly from malnutrition and starvation.
The drought in Thar has been hitting headlines in the country for the last one year but the enthusiasm and sorrow with which we treated our Peshawar martyrs is missing in the case of the Thar deaths. People from all walks of life – politicians, members of the civil society, sportsmen, artists – visited the site of the attack to pay homage to the dead. If we had shown even a fraction of this concern for the people of Thar many innocent lives could have been saved. They are also our children, for heaven’s sake.
Shah Faisal
Charsadda