In a way, to be indifferent to that suffering is what makes the human being inhuman. Indifference, after all, is more dangerous than anger and hatred. Anger can at times be creative. One writes a great poem, a great symphony, one does something special for the sake of humanity because one is angry at the injustice that one witnesses. But indifference is never creative. Even hatred at times may elicit a response. You fight it. You denounce it. You disarm it. Indifference elicits no response. Indifference is not a response.

Indifference is not a beginning, it is an end. And, therefore, indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor — never his victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner in his cell, the hungry children, the homeless refugees — not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity we betray our own.

Elie Wiesel

At least 20 people were killed in shootings yesterday in Karachi. Nothing’s significant about this statement, right? It has just a number: 20; an action: shooting; a place: Karachi. It will be forgotten in couple of days. We are used to larger numbers. We are used to more cold blooded mutilations like suicide bomb blasts. We are used to the idea of ethnic and political violence. Unless. Unless, of course, if people killed are not just people but fellows we know as friends or relatives. Or unless… Unless we come across strangers directly affected.

I once happened to meet two sisters in Karachi’s psychiatric ward. One of them was in no state to talk because of a mental breakdown and was, therefore, hospitalized. The other sister was attending to her and she told us about their lives. They turned out to be orphans. Their father was killed in a suicide attack. Their brother, the only breadwinner of the family, was later gunned down by political terrorists in a random shooting spree. The loss had left them shattered and at the mercy of their relatives, who were not very kind because of their own social problems.

The girls support themselves by doing the household chores of fortunate families. Life for them is not easy. They are more exposed to abuse than average women. The mental breakdown of one then should not come as a surprise given the type of agonies one is subjected to.

This is the story of just one family.

And according to the latest reports, the number of people gunned down over the weekend has now increased to 29. Just a number?