Hope for peace

Is it too much to hope for expecting no news of death and voilence after nearly a week of scary headlines?

Islamabad was under seige by security forces in anticipation of the 1million march. The human cost of sporadic voilence across the country is immense. Schools are closed in Karachi for a week. We've been reporting to work under a lot of stress (its taking its toll!) and now comes the economic cost of filling the streets of Pakistan with fire.

In the current year, $2-3b of FDI are now at stake. Writes Mehmood ul Hassan Khan: "According to independent estimation Karachi the industrial hub of the country has to bear Rs.2-3.5 billion losses if the business activities are closed for only a single day." His article Economics of Agitation and Agrression gives a broad view of the damage the Pakistani economy suffers in view of last week's tragic events (riots, Chinese Killings et al).

If you want to know what it does for the average joe, switch on Geo/ARY-1. Teary-eyed men will point to the carnage of motobikes on Mall Road, Lahore--their sole source of livelihood. What did their daily bread have to do with cartoons in Europe? They haven't seen them and they don't want anything to do with them, except express their regrets that 'it has happened'.

There are calls of peace and calm amidst noisy declaration for boycotting everything from medicine, to cheese to phones to fast food. Who are we hurting?

"While Muslims globally have condemned the ridicule of their religion, the voices of civilized objectors have been drowned out by a noisy minority of sensationalist hooligans. These attention-seeking firebrands know well that violence sells in the international press; they often stage scenes just for the cameras. The spiritual love-ins of mainstream Muslim protesters simply don’t make the headlines," writes Aisha Ahmad who notes the morning-after made it obvious the riots hurt the local economy and humiliate Pakistanis.

You don't need to read too much to see how there has been another dent in the govt's efforts to add a dash of positivity to Pakistan's image. We're hurt. We're hurt not simply because there is more about Pakistan and violence in the newspapers than it has been for months but because we believe there is more to life than watching out for a strike call, tension or whatever we Pakistanis got used long ago. There's no economics that can make up for our loss of peace of mind.