PHOTO: ESSA MALIK
Last month a Taliban attack on an army-run school in Peshawar which killed 150 people, including 132 children, has led to a concentrated social media campaign against the Taliban.
Despite the dangers people are speaking out through leading protests against Taliban sympathisers or recording their messages directly against them.
Two twenty-year-old filmmakers who graduated from Lahore recorded a powerful video message for the Taliban.
The mono-coloured film begins with a powerful question, “Why?”
Questioning why the Taliban attacked the school in Peshawar killing innocent lives, another woman follows asking, “What did you think?”
The sequence is followed by more young men and women questioning without naming anyone if ‘they’ thought people will get scared or will run away.
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The film questions if the Taliban thought, “We’ll believe in your false version of Islam?” or whether “We’ll believe a murder to be jihad?”
But it doesn’t end there. In its concluding message the film asserts the Taliban will be afraid and they will fear God’s wrath, a kid’s book, knowledge, Malala and Salam and Pakistan.
Ending on an even stronger note “We will #NeverForget” the film marks a paradigm shift and a turning point in the country to stand up and be vocal against militants.
The film since being shared on Facebook on January 18 has been shared 16,794 times and has been viewed 156,494 times.
Filmmakers Saim Sadiq and Imran Ahmad Khan while speaking to the BBC said they made the film because it may seem that Pakistanis are ok with these attacks but they are not. “Through international media it may seem that we are a part of it but we are not,” he asserted.
Interestingly, Imran shared they initially wanted to include 30 people in the video but ended up with only 10.
“A lot of people we reached out to did not want to be a part of something like this – they did have a sense of fear in them,” he added.
COMMENTS (5)
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“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.” . Don't wait for your turn. Speak out ... NOW !!!!
Taliban think they can dignify their murderous acts by calling it Islam, which it most definitely is not. People should not be fooled by them, they are not Muslims
Even they represents the clash of civilization . Realist knows it very well that it is not a clash but an evolutionry process ,Some have to get extinct today or tomorrow .
People who did not participate can be neutrals. You know those who don't care about it and enjoy drinking Pepsi and chips while two guys fight on the street.
Taliban are bullies and bullies are cowards. Taliban are most scared of children receiving education.