In memory of a friend

What do you call when a man and his family are tied and then strangled one by one, which one in front of whom no one knows yet, with each alternative so gruesome that it would make anyone’s heart bleed. Murders? Killings? I find these English words inadequate to express what evil befell my friend and his loved ones on the night of 13th of October. The youngest of the victims was 7 years old. Evil, sinister enough, to have shaken the heavens.

No matter how hard I try, it’s mighty difficult to shake that night out of my head. The pain and grief that they would have gone through, though difficult to remotely comprehend is enough to send shivers down my spine and leave a lump in my throat. We belong to a land no stranger to senseless killings and tragedy, to an extent that we have become unfortunately a bit immune to grief. But this one struck too close.

Being humans we have a strong need to understand and rationalize. Why would the killer do it to a family he was closely related to? A family that had been kind to him. Had helped and supported him over the years. How could he do it to the children that he had played with and seen grow up in front of him. Greed? Envy? Anger? Pride ? Or maybe the combination of all of them. He let the seeds of all these evils grow in his heart. They would have whispered to him until they became strong enough to overtake whatever humanity he had inside him. What gives me some consolation at this juncture is that justice would be done to him and his collaborators in this world and definitely the next. And for his friends and family, I hope time will slowly heal the grief that has been deeply inflicted.

My friend was full of life, love, laughter and kindness. This is the image that I will always have of him and I believe this is how he would have liked to be remembered also.

Rest in Peace Aamir Ullah Khan and family.