For his part, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif thankfully cancelled his visit to the UK and paid a visit to the victims of Lahore blast (which claimed more than 70 precious lives and left scores of others injured in the latest horrendous act of terrorism claimed by a TTP splinter group). Sharif even went out of his comforts and addressed the nation in this moment of grief. His Excellency took a lot of pains to rally the support of the nation.

All of it to what end? To mollycoddle the families who lost their innocent children? To stand by the Christian brethren like he did in Lahore church blasts last year?

Mr. Prime Minister! Put a hand on your heart and explain the Lahore attack to the mothers who have lost their angels. Can you do that?

Haven’t we all been telling you that you have to hunt down the nurseries of religious fanaticism and come down hard on terrorists in Punjab? Didn’t you know it already? How could you even think of throwing your weight behind the COAS only when it was not Punjab? Why did it take you so long?

Why does it always have to be the men-in-uniform doing all the right things for us?

Well if you were playing a silent observer, our enemies have made it pretty clear. They have done it right in your hometown now. Lahore bleeds today. Whole Pakistan bleeds today. Honestly Punjab witnessed its own APS on Sunday. And Punjab refuses to be fooled by the ever-touted rhetoric of hollow resolve of yours.

This is the third time alone in this month that we have been targeted.

For the honor of the votes of a common man, you should have been our man of crisis by now. You should have led us all from the front by setting an example.

We refuse to be marked safe today.

This is a more of a civilizational struggle than a mere military or legal battle. This is an all-out war. This is a war of our values, our resilience and our mindsets.

Mr. Prime Minister! If we cannot deal with the mullah mafia with a steely resolve today, we are no different than the previous governments. One-step-forward-and-two-steps-backwards is getting us nowhere.

For heaven’s sake what have you turned Islamabad into? To our utter embarrassment we have made a mockery of the writ-of-state in front of ourselves and the international community.

Mr. Prime Minister! We are ready to stand behind you but we are not blind. We have never been. You have to make big decisions. You have to see things clearly. Even if you have to lose votes from South Punjab, so be it. There will be a Pakistan beyond 2018 and that has to be a peaceful and progressive Pakistan.

Please spare us the hollow rhetoric.

We are all in this together and we will come out of it and rise as a nation together. Let’s do it together. Let’s leave a legacy of change and resilience for future generations. This is now or never. We can do it. And we will do it.

P.S. Let’s spare ourselves of the rhetoric first.