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Issues faced by Survivors of Terrorism in Pakistan

Numbers game
Will of God
Culture of silence
Survivors guilt
Loss of faith

Shahadat

Understanding PTSD Counselling
PTSD Recovery & Growth

Crying is ok
Taking a break is ok
Having a bad day is ok

We are going to be ok 2/
Numbers game

Pakistan has about 625,000 survivors in a population of 223 million or .013%

Majority victims/survivors are of lower to lower middle segments

Chances of knowing a survivor are pretty less for most, esp for those with a voice

So ignorance prevails

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We grew up with ‘you may eat or drink anything at Shia friends place but not water’ not that it stopped us gulping jugs after cricket or football!
After losing my wife in a suicide attack on 05/10/2009 & starting my ‘Say No to Terrorism’ crusade & sharing survivors stories

https://twitter.com/haiyabokhari/status/1306849546027380736

2/
we thought of Terrorism as bombs, suicide hits & the sort, Sectarian violence was another genre!

A couple of years back I met a Shia lady whose husband & son were targeted

My response was, that’s sectarianism not terrorism, her reply changed my perspective

My Grand Father Mr. Ghulam Nabi Malik was Deputy #Principal Mayo School of Arts #Lahore in 1947 and took over at Partition as the first Pakistani Principal.
He remained principal till 1953
(MSA is now the National College of Arts) More on the above!
gsntahir.wordpress.com/2012/03/16/htt…

As kids saw ‘Bi-scope’ wala in our street in Lahore
The chant that I remember was:

Barah maan ki dhoban dekho
Dili a katab manar dekho
Dekho Gama palwan dekho
Aur bahut sa aur saman dekho
Aa jao aa jao doo paiaa mae sara Jahan dekho!

Memories
Then we got a View Master (late 1950 early 1960) & grandfather moved to Gulberg
Street life was left behind in Kucha Kakezain, Dili Darwaja, Sanda & Ichra; Ladu pethian walay & katlama included!

Places where perhaps a part of me still lives!

Thinking of all who are awake so we can sleep!
They are awake even when they know how we ridicule them as an organisation & as people serving in it!

Life is not cheap, a 110/- rupee bullet does not kill a soldier it removes a lifelong investment in skills! ASK ME WHAT I WAS

I'll reply with what I've done.
Those things others would not do, I did;
Those rivers others would not swim, I swam;
Those hills others would not climb, I conquered;
Those bridges others would not cross, I crossed;
I have celebrated. I have mourned.

Participated in Zoom dua for Nadeem Mumtaz of Fazal Din & Sons, praying for his maghfirat & strength for the family I posted:

Assalam o alaikum all, two before & two following me ie five generations have climbed the steps to Fazal Dins the Mall Lahore, my dua is that my generations to follow may also know the conviction that up these steps would lie answer to their medicines needs right away or procured in a couple of days, aamin
A giant among pigmies no more, more miss him than we know!
.@NabihaMeher @PingHaider @billynumnum

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Rest in Peace Nadeem Mumtaz 😢
You are so familiar yet I just can’t place you!
Having been away from Lahore for half an age has made me lose touch with half a life!
@NabihaMeher this is a thread about memories from childhood to a time Lahore became alien to me!
@UmaimaBlogger 2/
#FazalDinSons The Mall Lahore, my earliest memory is going with my Dadi Mrs Ghulam Nabi Malik as a toddler to what was a shop with stairs, a veranda, an imposing tall door, & dark polished show cases, even as a toddler awesome interior was foreboding!
The Carminative misture,

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Buddha stone carvings, Crosses, abandoned broken down stone hut mosques in remote valleys, supposedly ghosts guarding ‘kools’ water channels, & the ethereally surreal groaning of glacial moraines, the search for ‘salaget’under large boulders ...
dawn.com/news/1568514 2/
Add to this hills like volcanoes of closed craters where an annual Zho or Yak is sacrificed to keep dormant!
And tales of goats lost to tigers!
The ‘Sia’ (rose) & meadows green with dandelion billowing in the wind!
The Shyok taking it’s toll in life to feed the Indus!

Copied from A forum:

It is time we named this city as ASGHARABAD, after Air Marshal Asghar Khan. It is a shame to continue with this colonial name, a major who conquered it, and we still honour him.
I hope someone who is in a position to bring this about makes a move . 1/
My take on this:
———-

My views are that name change & removal of statues are in bad taste & mindset not ready to learn from history!

I have said this on other forums where the recent tearing down of statues in the US was discussed!

پی ٹی ایس ڈی
جس تن لاگے - سو تن جانے

PTSD - we need awareness of this in #Pakistan, but before tgat a study into it’s prevalence is must!
@PakRedCrescent may look into this!
redcross.org/about-us/news-… Experience/witness traumatic event like:
- serious road/other accidents
- learning you have a life-threatening illness
- bereavement
- violent personal/physical/sexual assault, robbery, mugging
- military combat
- natural or man-made disasters
- #terrorism
- traumatic childbirth

Pakistan in Posters
History, the past, nostalgia!

What I miss about the Pakistan I grew up in Vs. the country I am living in today!

Will keep adding to this album as I find more such ‘silent but shouting’ testimonials of what many don’t know about & many miss!

1/ Images stir vivid memories

Watching ‘Kuch bhegay alfaz’ on Netflix a fishmonger scene took me back 25 yrs+ to #Islamabad’s #Peshawar mor Itwar bazar & a withered 60ish fishmonger who spoke very less & over time he‘d shake his head if our type of fish was not there .. 2/ One day we met at a funeral, frugally dressed yet people deferred to him as an elder, I hugged him & looked him in the eyes, Saab he was my cousin!
A millionaires cousin a poor fishmonger, read of, but saw first time. Then we become friends (if it may be said so)

The Fasting Buddha has always been my favourite statue, reminds me of the ‘chilla’ ritual of the Sufi & other saints!
harking back: The exquisite ‘fasting Buddha’ and its lasting spell
dawn.com/news/1540943

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Somethings just don’t go away, memories rankle & time instead of healing festers the wounds!
Only “wrong is the new right!” Over 100K dead, close to a million survivors, no succour no piller to turn to!
All is well in the corridors of power!
tribune.com.pk/story/140760/t… 2/4
Result - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD
Lip service in garb of research to get funding is the extent of the approach to implementing doable remedies!
Till then, seminars & paper reading zindaabad!
dawn.com/news/1219430

Merry Christmas!
1/ Tommy was raring with joy to go out on on seeing Ali-Bryan trainers duo this morning-they wished us joy & a brought a cake
A nostalgic moment hundreds of memories
As i could not meet them I called to wish & thank them!
Ali was guarded on the phone .... 2/ when i said yaar your coming was enough cake was not needed, his tone changed & i felt relief & relaxed breathing
Sir thank you, nahi sir ap hamari family hain (u r family)
Hesitantly he said, sir the madam whose shepherd we train, was not home so we left the cake ....

Today’s news feed on my breakfast table which i got to read before dinner!

Lahore Lahore aie!

Did you that lahore historically has been home to 5 Noble Prize winners.
dr abdus Salam, 1979 in physics.
dr arthur holy compton, 1927 in physics.
dr subramanyan chandershaker, 1983 in physics.
Rudyard kipling, 1907 in literature. dr govind khorana, 1968 in physiology/bio chemistry

one was born here, three went to govt college, one went to Punjab University, one worked for the newspaper civil n military gazette.
all virtually blossomed in LAHORE at some point n time, before going to the west to be ...

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after 05/10/2009 i would buy 5-6 papers off the corner newsstand & literally read every word to stay sane
the restoration of Sadequain's murals on the roof of Lahore Museum was in the news & i followed it, after a while it conveniently went off the media radar! 2/
interesting was 2 Indian art conservationist working on the project as we did not have such experts
during a recent meeting, I mentioned the Fasting Buddha story & this, which was not received well, no blame intended or implied
I shared the Buddha story few days back

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meray piyaray dost Gary,
(my sweet dear friend Gary)
sitting here in Lahore, Pakistan and reading the posts about your passing away, took me back over the thirty years we have known each other (almost to the month)! 2/
in my minds eyes flashed the memories of five years of our work together, here in Pakistan - the long drives, flights, walks, talking and teaching trees, something that you very nicely managed o transfer to me - literally make a tree loves from a tree cutter!