Monday, October 17, 2005
An excerpt from a journalist’s account of what he saw in Balakot:
[He is standing by a collapsed school building]
“This is Shaheen College. It is Balakot’s biggest private college and is considered to be the most modern one too. And this is its computer lab. Hands frozen on the keyboards, fingers on the mouse or heads inside the monitor…this is the scene after the quake hit. Urdu copies are strewn on the floor nearby. I pick up the nearest one…a girl has written something on it! “mera naam Rozeena hai. Mai chohthi (4th) jamaat mai parhti hun. mera gaa’on (village) bohat khoobsoorat hai *sigh*. Hum roz subh sawere school jaate hain taa’ke ilm haasil keren aur phir sab ki khidmat kerein.”
The story ends there with splashes of blood!”