THE EDITOR KARACHI

SUB: VICTIMS ARE PEOPLE, NOT NUMBERS.

The eminent Chartered Accountant and Financial Consultant, YOUSUF ADIL, who recently organized a financial conference in Karachi, made this admonishing remark to the newsmen in his opening speech: "DOES 6 DEATHS IN KARACHI, IN A CITY OF 120 MILLION, REALLY DESERVE 6 COLUMNS ON THE FRONT PAGE? WHAT KIND OF IMPRESSION ARE YOU SENDING TO THE WORLD?"

Mr. Adil, this is a shocking, dismal, and heartless statement. Please be informed you that a person murdered is not an entry in any accounting ledger. That victim is not just an abstract number that you just casually read thru in a newspaper and get on with drinking your morning cuppa. That victim that you so callously dismiss as an insignificant number is somebody’s brother, son, father, or husband. That victim is part of society, part of the daily ritual of life, and part of the population that breathes this city’s air and saunters on this city’s battered roads. He is still a human being, not a number.

Mr. Adil, the victim you deride as not worth any mention on the front page of any newspaper may have been a passer-by caught in the fusillade of gun power. He may have been an active member of a party or a cause to which he sincerely believed in. He may have been living on the sleazier side of life and may have deserved what he may have been preaching or practicing himself. But he is still a human being, not a number.

Mr. Adil, you may have been watching Khabarnama religiously on PTV and may have been totally overwhelmed by what you view in the 30 or so minutes. You may have got fed up with what’s going on in this City of Lights and have now become prone to emulate the proverbial ostrich. You may have been completely awed by the press propaganda churned out daily by the pygmy politicos so found in abundance in this land. You may have your own opinion about the person killed but he is still a human being, not a number.

Mr. Adil, in developed countries such as good ole US of A, even one person killed is big news on CNN. The local TV stations too send their reporters to get minute-by-minute news on the victim while the police and administration send out an All Points Bulletin faster then you can say "homicidium". The fact is that the victim is to them still a human being, not a number.

Mr. Adil, you are sincerely advised to go to any of the victims’ homes and see for yourself the ruination to the families due to these senseless killings. Talk to the mother whose two year-old was killed due to a sniper’s bullet. Talk to the aged couple whose son, their sole support in their winter years, lay dead before them, a victim to the bullet from a gunfight between rival groups. Talk to the bride who waited in her wedding trousseau while her bridegroom was shot while getting his car decorated at a neighborhood flower shop. Each of them is still a human being, not a number.

Mr. Adil, there are ways to impress foreign investors who want to come here with their big bucks. But you have to tell them the facts. They want to be on the level and do not appreciate the mumbo-jumbo you guys regularly give them that everything is cool and neat. Tell them the facts, the good things and the bad points. They do not want lies and false promises. Do not blame the press media for reporting the truth. After all, unlike you, the journalists believe that every citizen killed is still a human being, not a number.

Mr. Adil, it is high time you come out of your cocoon and face the reality. Do not consider yourself immune from what is happening to this tragic city. The action required is to get people to sit on the table of brotherhood and thrash out a solution of peace, love, and happiness. This is for the citizens of this metropolis to decide. This is not a case for the diabolical "hidden hand" to come and rescue the city. This is not the job for the ignoramus politicians perched in Islamabad, who are weaving conspiracies of loot, plunder, and raw power, day in and day out. Maybe then you, and others like you, will truly believe that each and every person killed in the continuos carnage in Karachi is still a human being, not a number. Get the picture, Mr. Yousuf Adil, exalted Homo Sapien!

Yours Sincerely: