Asifa

-by Sharicka Zutshi (Founder)

I went on the internet and typed the words “Asifa” into the search bar.

But I was not looking for a rant by journalists who failed to look into this atrocity before it became a political agenda.

And not politicians whose words spit onto the people who had shed their blood to build this country.

And not celebrities conveying their condolences.

And not the circus of showcasing her face beside those of her culprits; who we talk about in length but when the question comes down to punishment and redemption, but we can only “hang our heads in shame”.

I went to search for her IDENTITY, her name and what it meant.

Asifa. Pure and Virtuous.

Did she know of this? Did she know that she was bestowed upon the name of which she

deserved every letter of? and will deserve forever.

Asifa is pure. She is a pure heart and soul and the breathing soul of her parent’s eyes.

Whose religion did not make them adopt her as their own. Humanity did.

Asifa is virtuous. She did nothing wrong but be born a HUMAN. But it was us who have

wronged her.

This creator does not adorn saffron, green, black or white. He adorns peace, tranquility and virtue.

The virtuous Asifa was a shadow of his he sent us and has sent to every lucky household in the body of a child.

When will we wake? I do not know.

Tomorrow it could be an Ali, A Shreya, A Nancy, A Margot, A Suresh the names are as

endless as their origins could be.

What will we answer when their innocent but violated eyes look up to us and ask us,

Why did it have to be me?

Did she know? At the age of coloring in butterflies and boxes in ink?

Did she know why the people who did this to her did it? Or why they did it?

Did she know what was happening or did she know only after the pain struck in?

What was she thinking when they took the last of her breath away?

What will she say to the creator when she sees him?

“What was my fault? I was only but a child.

They take your name and that the fault was either yours or mine,

They claim. They claim to pursuit the truth but hide it among the propaganda, charge sheets and television debates.

Those aren’t humans your highness. They are monsters who are built in their name”

Hate the crime. Hate the criminal.

Hate the mind that is filthy.

Do not hate the name that they take to summon their god.

He gave us all a heart and taught us how to use it.

If some cannot understand him, what is his folly?