Lessons to be learnt from the Sahiwal incident

I've never been comfortable with fundamentalists. When I was growing up, there was only one deeply religious male relative in the family and he suffered from severe psychological problems. He would disappear every couple of months or so, and when he returned he would sometimes have difficulty recalling where he had been or what he had done.

The recent incident in which the police cold-bloodily killed four people (two of them females) is enough to make a man wonder whether he will end up as the victims did. The cops say the driver (Zeeshan) was either a terrorist or he had links with terrorists. As proof, they have a photo of him standing next to another terrorist (Usman) whom they had killed a few days back. We should be forgiven for not believing what the cops (or all those in Imran Khan's government) say nowadays. I won't go into whether Usman was a terrorist or not, but just because Zeeshan knew him doesn't mean that he was one as well. I know many heavily bearded men, so if one of them has links to a terrorist organization, does that make me a terrorist? Besides, how does one know if one of his acquaintances has become a terrorist? The husband of a female relative of mine became a fundamentalist, took another wife and gave financial help to others whom he associated with. He's now on the run, as he is wanted by the authorities for helping terrorists. Since they've not been able to locate him, they have arrested many close male relatives of his.  

I spend very little time in mosques, because I know that sooner or later I will be persuaded to spend more time with fundamentalists, who have nothing to do but tell others what will happen to people like me after they have died. I have enough problems of my own without having to wonder if I'll end up among those who are consigned to perdition.

That said, I would strongly advise my young male relatives (most of whom have crossed 40) to be very careful, lest they become 
targets in future encounters.