Not long ago a place of learning in Peshawar was turned into a slaughter house; a massacre of hundreds of innocent souls in the name of revenge was carried out by the so-called champions of religion. And as if one incident wasn’t enough to rattle the insides of humanity, another was carried out with the same MO in Kenya University where Non- Muslim students were annihilated in the same manner by Shabab militant group.
However, it is not the first time Al-Shabab has carried out such inhumane act of terrorism. The group has killed hundreds of Kenyans before on various occasions just like TTP has in Pakistan. They claim it to be a payback for Kenya’s military intervention in Somalia in the same manner as TTP chief Fazlullah did after Peshawar school massacre.
Kenya’s military operation began in Somalia in 2011. It was intended to push Al-Shabab back from the borders to maintain peace in Kenya.
Details unveiled how a handful of fighters from the group with few weapons managed to kill 150 students. Many students said that the university had been warned before about a possible attack but no safety measures were taken and the fate of the university rested in the hands of two guards.
Both Peshawar’s Army Public School incident and the massacre in Kenya’s university are quite similar yet Pakistan’s mainstream media did not give much coverage to this incident. A Question that must be asked here is that does proximity factor the journalism only operates on proximity factor, and only highlights that which creates an impact on the vicinities and fail to even acknowledge the happening beyond boundaries?
Does national media only care about heinous crimes that cross the green threshold? What kind of mundane minds are working to forge such illicit cannons of journalism? Moreover why do the politician’s tongues are twisted on this issue? Was it not a duty on their end to at least condemn this act of cruelty?
Pakistan’s voice should have overshadowed all other voices on this issues given that the country has recently been through a similar heart-wrenching incident in which 148 innocent people including 132 children got killed.
Nothing can justify the act of spilling human blood in such a ruthless manner. No matter where it happens and no matter who does it, such acts must be condemned in all possible ways. Moreover, proximity must not dictate the media groups’ decisions to give coverage to such important issues. Also, the government needs to empathize at the very least if any pragmatic steps are out of their league.