.Dr. Umar Khan
Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.
23-9-16
Pakistan’s too numerous Martyrs
It is more difficult, and it calls for higher energies of
soul, to live a martyr than to die one. Horace Mann
Turned on the TV early morning and heard the news of more
Pakistanis getting martyred. These 7 handsome young men were serving in the
disputed area of Kashmir when Indians started firing. The nation again saw the
pictures of its martyrs followed by footage of mourning relatives and a
dignified funeral with uniformed armed soldiers paying respects in the military
way. Have been watching such funerals just too many times, might be time to do
something about this tragic issue. A bit of research made me discover the number
of martyrs in Pakistan from
2004 until the end of 2013.
Civilian
deaths 48054
Journalists 45
Civilians
killed by drones 416-951
Pakistani
security forces 5498
Militants 26862
Total 81324-81860
Children of APS and students of Bacha Khan University and
many later victims are not included in this figure and can make it look worse. Too
many for any nation, probably one the highest in the world. The other
troublesome fact was that despite losing so many innocent people we are always
viewed suspiciously, asked to do more, and blamed for problems around the
world. While it is desirable to glorify the martyrs but our glorification zeal
should not distract us from questioning why we have so many martyrs, apparently
an unending supply. Are we getting too callous with the lives of our young?
Were these ultimate sacrifices necessary? Could their deaths be prevented? Was
it someone’s complacency and negligence?
We have to establish the fact the martyrs might be our
heroes but they are also victims, very tragic victims. Although it is desirable
to have people willing to die for a cause but someone lusting for death is
certainly abnormal. We must stop venerating death, something we have done too
long. On national days most are expressing their desire to die for the country
and never to live and work for it. Instead we should encourage our youth to
live with ideals, something even more challenging, In our zeal to glorify our
dead as martyrs we shouldn’t create a further generation of young men seeking
early, violent death to be called martyrs and neither lose sight of the causes
of this heavy loss of lives.
Someone who sacrifices his life for his nation or ideology
is considered a martyr and glorified. Naturally for their sacrifice and bravado
they are held in high esteem in every culture. Our forces are trained to kill
and whenever there is a martyr it is a failure somewhere although certain
numbers of casualties might be inevitable in a conflict. There are two kinds of
martyrs, uniformed and armed soldiers who voluntarily get into dangerous
situations, then there are involuntary martyrs who were not fighting or facing
danger but got into wrong place at the wrong time like APS children. We have
had more than enough of both these kinds. In the second kind, it is always
failure of someone or some government organizations that let it happen and must
be held responsible.
The major reasons for our extremely troubling high frequency
of loss of life are our eagerness to get involved in too many wars and secondly
our inability to curtail violence effectively. This is despite having one of
the highest numbers of armed uniformed men in Pakistan and many government
security agencies enjoying lavish perks and privileges.
Pakistan was born in 1947 with estranged relations with
India due to Kashmir, like we say in Punjabi “Sharika”. This hostility did
cause and is still causing loss of lives in both covert and open wars. Later we
got into a habit of getting into unnecessary foreign wars. We entered the not
so cold war in 1979 fighting the Soviet Union in which we sacrificed but US
won. We were cunningly sold the narrative that it was our own war giving us an
absolute euphoria of beating a world power at the demise of USSR. This led to
megalomania of a small but influential segment of Pakistan resulting in its
support of fighters in Bosnia, Chechnya, Kashmir and the world over. During
this time the world changed and our support for noble jehad became support of
terrorism.
This policy of supporting covert operations was a disaster
internationally. We were effectively ostracized and even friends like China and
Iran have complains against us. Our neighbor Afghanistan for whom we risked our
own security, welcomed millions, has become the most venomous critic of
Pakistan. Had we not started op Zarb I Azab this isolation would have worsened.
Mushrooming of irregular outfits we called Jihadists
overflowed in our society too and we started having sectarian along with
communal fights. We fostered strange ideas of strategic depth and tried to
influence our neighboring countries. Violence of all kinds and shades became
acceptable and the monopoly of the state vanished.
All these series of blunders committed in the 80s and 90s have
resulted in the current pathetic condition of Pakistan. Despite having a very
high number of martyrs we are the only country in the world whose size has been
constantly shrinking whether in 1971 or Kargil or Siachen. Much of the world is
annoyed with us and many are fighting their wars in our country resulting in
major loss of life and property.
It is pointed out by many academics that Pakistan’s
eagerness to get into other’s wars wasn’t as benign as some led us to believe.
In the process of entangling us in foreign wars some of us got opportunity to
rule long terms, many made fortunes while the common man paid the price in
blood. This must stop.
To undo the follies of our past we must start with our
commitment not to support or nurture violence of any kind. In one voice the
society must give a stern message to armed groups to disarm and anyone who
challenges states monopoly over violence must be crushed.
Once we have disinfected ourselves then we ought to find the
remnants of interests who put us in this difficult situation and make sure such
state of affairs never arise again. We have to build a competent diplomatic
core and hand them over the responsibility of running the foreign policy,
biggest defense of a nation.
This will allow us to focus on our people and invest in them
as they are our most valuable national asset. Divert resources towards health
and education.
Then we must find out the inefficiencies and shortcomings
within out state apparatus letting the massacre of APS children and many others
happen. If GHQ, air and naval bases can be attacked it has to be someone’s
fault but I am not aware of any such inquiry or its report, or the punishment
of the negligent. This impunity must end. We should criticize and correct our
institutions for their complacency and slackness while refraining from insults
or ridicule and punish those responsible of these tragedies.
Pakistanis are the most wonderful people. Intelligent,
energetic, enterprising and unbelievably resilient, whenever given an
opportunity they have worked miracles. They certainly deserve better. Pakistani
blood is valuable and must be protected and valued, even from themselves.
“Na samjho ge mit jao ge ae Hindustan walo
Tumhari dastaan bhi na rahe gi daastanon me” Iqbal
*please substitute word Hindustan with Pakistan
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