Today evening till last reports came in about 20 people were killed and over 22 wounded when a suicide attack took place at Fatehpur Shrine in Jhal Magsi district of Balochistan. After the attack, condemnation statements, condolences from the country’s leadership started pouring in. the resolve to defeat the terrorists was reasserted and India and Afghanistan were blamed once again. Then things went back to press conferences and debates against each other and defending the former Prime Minister.

It is not to be forgotten that this is not the first attack on this shrine, 33 people were killed in an attack on this shrine in 2005. Suicide attacks have been going on for the last many years across Pakistan and according to web reports 62,492 people have been killed in these attacks.

Eight years ago on this day another attack took place in Pakistan – at the Country Office of the United Nations World Food Program, five people were killed in it. The same kind of statements were made by the leaders then and empty promises were made, however, the suspects were released because of lack of evidence and that was the end of the case.

Does anyone remember this attack, apart from the families who lost their loved ones? No one!

Every time an attack takes place, the state, institutions and we all say we will not forget this attack, the people who died, and will not let it happen again. However, not only we forget it but are least concerned when a new one takes place.

Why have we become so insensitive as a nation? Is it because it has not hit our homes as yet or is it because we have lost all hope and believe that we have to die one day so why bother if it’s in an attack or by natural causes?

Whenever an attack takes place the victim’s families recall the trauma once again and have to re-live the trauma. Who knows how to deal with it? It is easy to say ‘bus Allah ki marzi hia,’ instead of listening to people who have lost their loved ones all of a sudden; or standing with them against the ones who snatched the loved ones. Does anyone know how the woman who lost her husband in today's attack is going to run her family? How will the father look after the children who lost their mother in the attack? How will they get back to their normal lives, even if they lived hand-to-mouth?

Not a single place has been spared in Pakistan; be it schools, markets, security personnel, minorities, places of worship or shrines. One hundred and forty four kids were massacred on December 16, 2014. A National Action Plan was formed after the attack, and the number of attacks showed a decline for a while, but recently their intensity has increased.

Yet the state does not have a counter narrative still. Despite being on the front in the o-called war against terror, the US, Afghanistan and India blame Pakistan for harboruing and having links with terrorists. How come they can speak but we as a nation can’t take a stand against terrorists? Why we are still divided against them?

The results of NA-120 saw the rise of two radical parties, which shows that the government is not only at fault but we are too. This has forced me to come to one conclusion – we are a blood-thirsty nation.

Today the DG ISPR said that those who questions policies and raise voice against the state institutions are not Pakistanis. I for one was disappointed to hear this from him as I and many like me have seen how Pakistan has suffered due to state policies. There are a handful of people who protest against them otherwise people openly support such policies, which is not only damaging Pakistan but also our future generations. We are not against Pakistan but for Pakistan and want to fight this menace till the end, the sooner the better.