Qayamat Kyun Zaruri Thi
Amidst Grave, Gaza and Genocide lies a urge to live a simple and peaceful life.
“Qayamat khud batayegi, Qayamat kyu zaruri thi”
Is living more unjust or dying? When questions become the answer and answers seem the
denial of silence, the world becomes a haunted house that fears its own people.
A world that does not pause without a purpose, and unheard voices like Hind
Rajab, because bullets and bread have a heavy cost that often takes life. May I never
let my kids read a book that covers a chapter where I was supposed to stand up
rather than keep sleeping among my schedules. May the voices of their kids never
haunt me for shutting down the door while there was someone knocking.
A world that has acres of land is landless when it comes to people of Palestine. The world
that is big enough yet falls short to open its arms for a child. Some losses are too personal to
feel, though they don't owe you any blood connections. I feel that's the point of having a
heart.
Miles apart yet it feels so close to some of us. While a child is killed each minute in
Gaza who is trying to sustain in ongoing starvation that has taken many lives and yet many
in the queue. A childhood which is meant for toys and schoolbags is replaced with amputated
babies. The weight of this war is so heavy that children are forever victims of this world in
the form of preferred ignorance preferential behaviour. Kids like Hind Rajab who are slain in
a pool of blood after a hitfall of 300+ bullets, and that too in just 6 years of life pay a heavy
price of living and dying. She pleaded over a phone call for the emergency workers who were
expected to rescue her from a car riddled with bullets. She might not know that pleading
from a world that does not pause for its people without a purpose is tragic. I read somewhere, ‘we travel long roads just to feed our stomach while a lost Childhood carries the burden of
feeding their families and yet what they are served with us is a dose of Death’.
Call me Khalil Gibran because I say along with him "Keep me away from Wisdom that does not cry, philosophy which does not laugh and greatness which does not bow before children".
Each day the numbers rise while the world is reading, noticing and moving with the
pain. We are so unfortunate that our morning coffee is shared with news of bulletins covering
lost lives , burdens of breads & ongoing battles. I wonder what an ache it would be to keep
waiting for a son, a father, a mother and so on. This list of losses is so long that we don't
even remember what stands out to the top and bottom.
Imagine a mother witnessing her child dying in front of her own eyes because they are falling short for food–as the world falls short on empathy and ethics. Pleading, panicking and then proving is constant. Our imagination surrenders to a point while realising that many might see their loved ones for the last time knowing that they shall not return. How dreadful it all sounds, that journalists, doctors, and volunteers have to go and continue their work despite knowing that they themselves might never witness their own family again!
It's been 2 years since the world has failed to stand up for what is supposed to be a basic human right. I've witnessed these two years of endless chaos of families burning, kids slaughtered into pieces, journalists killed, hospitals destroyed, dreams shattered, and weeping all around while the world is yet to consider whether it's a genocide or not? The procedure might take up more years or decades. But there continues the wiping of human life and killing – that is marking an
increase each day. More than 50,000 people have been killed so far; others are wounded.
More than 200 journalists have been killed all because they are trying to uncover the truth
and atrocities. Hospitals, schools, universities, transport – almost everything is a
piece of rubble now. While the entire population is on verge of famine – food
scarcity at the verge of pushing the death toll even higher. Courage might sound different for each one of us when it comes to standing for principle which is not easy enough to rely upon while the whole of it is against you, but the one seen is Gaza overweighs the highest on this earth for now.
We know that history shall be kinder knowing Gaza is the prime example of courage,
solidarity and human spirit of not surrendering no matter what. Despite being tired, hungry,
and severely exhausted, medical staff continue to save lives. While missiles and bombs are blasted on their own family, they are busy saving others. Journalists affirm on their principles of covering every atrocious crime no matter what amount of risk they bear, relief workers providing
shelter and food to those displaced, and solidarity sparks the fire when people placing their
hands to pick others and find bodies under the rubble.
The human heart is so sensitive that it cries over a rom-com movie while ignoring the terror in the form of images, videos and trigger warnings. I have realised that human beings are much preferential when it comes to emotions that they prefer reel over real to react upon. I wonder how a person is not affected even a bit by surroundings; a father carrying his dismembered child in his hands, a mother carrying their malnutritioned child and hugging them for each second realising that he might die the next moment, an orphan crying for his family and so many such sights of cruelty. Maybe, not every heart knows how to bleed for others. They chose to remain silent since the very first invasion, and will continue till the tactic of starving children, and bombing shelters doesn't really affect them.
As per CPJ, Israel is engaging in the deadliest and most deliberate effort to kill and silence
journalists that CPJ has ever documented. Palestinian journalists are threatened, directly
targeted, and murdered by Israeli forces. They are being arbitrarily detained, and tortured in
retaliation for their work. Media infrastructure in Gaza is systematically destroyed and
censorship has been tightened throughout the West Bank and Israel. Amnesty International
investigation concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. It's
report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide
Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include
killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in
Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
“Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group–unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them,” said Agnès
Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. The world's leading association of
genocide scholars has declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. A resolution
passed by the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) states that Israel's
conduct meets the legal definition as laid out in the UN convention on genocide. Yet the world chooses silence over resources that have been provided against all the odds.
Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur: In her March 2024 report, "Anatomy of a
Genocide," she concluded there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Israel has
committed acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
UN Special Committee: In September 2024, the UN's "Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People" issued a report concluding that Israel's policies and practices are "consistent with the characteristics of genocide”. More than 20 other UN-appointed independent experts and four UN working groups have also endorsed the view that Israel's actions in Gaza could meet the threshold for genocide.
According to the International Criminal Court (ICC), in November 2024 there passed a report which states that ICC Pre - trial Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant were responsible for the war-crime of starvation, and crime against humanity of murder, persecution and other inhumane
acts. Moreover,Humans Rights Watch has also accused Israel of committing acts of
genocide. Medicins Sans Frontiers, the Medical Aid’s group has also described Israel
actions as genocide.
How much more evidence is needed to acknowledge the obvious? To witness the atrocious acts that are leaving stains on maps of the world? Obviously, there are many more voices that my article doesn't talk about, but are heard among the hustle of hundreds. Because if I even dare to write the names of all, my article would sound like a heavy digest.
May I never let my kids read a book that covers a chapter where I was supposed to stand up but kept sleeping in my busy schedules. May the voices of their kids never haunt and echo for shutting down the door while there was someone knocking. We just keep surfing as if our sight isn't capturing the sensitivity of the moment, while seeing babies burning, people pleading, torn up bodies, amputated children, infants dying, and people collapsing due to hunger. Maybe because this is the first ordinary principle of this new world created by us where one part bleeds while others remain unbothered.
About the Author
Laiba Aqeel
Laiba Aqeel is a student, who has keen interest in Literature, Political Science and Economics. She delves into designs for dreams getting destinations into desires that draw inspo from words. She believes that this world is all about beauty in small aspects of paper, pen , pages , people, perspective and positivity. Being an avid reader, writer, speaker and listener, she loves pen, paper & these perspective. Moreover, she enjoys life wrapped between chaos and calm. She believes her words can make a strong difference by being sharp as well as shiny and being that they have the power to turn the table. The best of something for her would be definitely beauty wrapped around books, libraries and museums. Apart from this, she loves food, fiesta's and films along with a fashion of Art and literature. Whenever she is off the screen or books and writing she must be busy exploring roads, resturant, cafes and foods. She loves cooking ~ both with words and food. Her Roman empire is somewhere around old schools songs, scenarios and stories. She wishes to become a story oneday somewhere in annals of history and people remembering her with vocal for local voice and viewpoint.