By Mohammad Sohaib 

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July 10, 2007.

 

Blood, Gunpowder and tears.

 

The people of Pakistan are still not used to the threat of terrorism. Although we have already seen 33 bomb blasts - what is happening in Aabpara is something new, something horrific. The whole nation is glued to their television screens. Islamabad the peaceful has never seen this kind of chaos before. Noise and Islamabad don’t really go down well either.

 

For a week now, the sombre looking Aabpara, named after the first girl born in the area, has been placed under curfew, a first in Islamabad’s history. The city is drenched in gloom as a battle rages on at its very heart. They couldn’t do this in a mosque! For God’s sake, have we lost all sense of what’s right and what’s wrong?

 

 

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A cycle laden with newspapers stands idly at a footpath. The tyres seem worn out, as if it had just come back from travelling around Islamabad early in the morning delivering newspapers to its residents. Gulzar chacha sits there covering for his son who had gone to run an errand. “I have come here because I don’t have anything to do at home,” Gulzar chacha says softly. His feeble voice tells a story of his fading age. 

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Gulzar chacha isn’t bored at all. “There is so much activity around here, people are buying things happily, and I am here to enjoy the show,” he says.  He sits right in front of the main gate of Aabpara's Sunday Bazar, the busiest place in Islamabad on a Sunday. 

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There is so much to look forward to as you enter the Bazar from the gate, where the newspaper laden cycle stands. The rate list on your left, tempts you to buy throughout the day. There are desi bagels dished out at one of the many eateries inside the market. Pateesa, worth five rupees, waters your mouth and it is almost impossible to concentrate on shopping. The voices at the Bazar attract you instantly, the chirping shopkeepers and the notorius kids are making the atmosphere lively as ever.

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 July 06, 2008.

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Almost a year, 64 suicide attacks and 965 lives later, Aabpara mourns the first anniversary of the Lal Masjid tragedy with another suicide attack. This time, it was the Melody market that was the centre of the tragedy. 21 killed 40 injured.

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The Lal Masjid incident has divided the public opinion, some people sympathize with the radicals, and others don’t. People now think twice before saluting a soldier. As the public opinion hovers between these two extremes, people are dying every day.

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Also see the picture gallery: Inside Lal Masjid

 

Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been launched. Taliban have captured Swat, democracy is back, and the nation is benumbed.

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December 20, 2015.

 

The lal backdrop of the Itwar Bazar looks on at all the festivity. As soon as you move towards the fruit stalls, you will hear more noise than usual. It is finally Itwar.

 

The past week has seen, the wanted cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz addressing a sizeable crowd at Lal Masjid at the Friday sermon, emphasizing on the need of Shariah law in Pakistan. Islamabad continues to suffer with signal blockage during the friday prayers and Abpara is still under terrorist threats. 

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A shopkeeper states that the only change after the Lal Masjid incident at the itwar bazar has been the scarcity of foreigners. “Why should I lie? There are no security hazards due to the Lal Masjid administration,” the security guard answers as his eyes sway.

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A CDA worker told us that the Lal Masjid administration wants them to close the bazar during the prayer time, which is certainly an impossible thing to do in a bazar with 1860 stalls and thousands of buyers. “But we dealt with them, and there weren’t any issues”, he says.

 

All of this somehow dissolves to the conclusion of our desensitization as a nation. We don't seem to care at all about what stands ahead. We have all seen so much that nothing else will make it worst. We just want to live on for the sake of it, that is why almost 60,000 of us go there on a Sunday, and a size able amount listens to the wanted cleric every Friday. 

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The lal of the the mosque alarms us all of the dangers that lies ahead. It is about time that we rub our eyes and wake up. Till then, happy shopping!