Years ago, a war started in the name of eliminating terrorism when world’s most prominent military invaded Afghanistan. To be more precise, “war on terror” was launched by the world’s leading powers against al Qaeda and the Taliban. The war effected innocent people of the country. The situation in Afghanistan got worse and innocent people found themselves helpless. The world wanted to abolish terrorism from the globe and in doing so they forgot about the guiltless people and their innocent children and their women.
At that moment, Pakistan, which has an impressive history of helping humble refugees, once again offered its services in order to help the Afghan people. Thousands of Afghans migrated to Pakistan. Though Pakistan was well aware of the threat of terrorism and the consequences of their actions but not helping the helpless was not acceptable.
Pakistan was not the only country that helped fleeing Afghan refugees, but it also stood and fought at the frontlines of the war against terrorism. Pakistan has lost tens of thousands of people in this savage war, yet it never closed its doors to Afghan refugees.
Till March 2015, a report says at least 80,000 people have lost their lives in Pakistan. Their image in the world is influenced by the war. The whole world has its eyes upon us. Pakistan has also spent millions of dollars in this war. Our economy has been affected in no small way. They are many who tell about the losses we had but there are a few who express what we get from the war also. Everyone knows how it started, who started it and what exactly happened.
But I think it is time that we know the things war has blessed us with. It is said that to be haunted by one’s own mistakes is a fate worse than death. In Pakistan, 80,000 people died in the war against terror. Yet one can see people have not lost their smile. The country we live in holds diversity which no other country holds. There are Punjabis, Pukhtoon, Baloch, Sindhi, Kashmiris, Gilgitis and many others. Each holds different cultures and different traditions. There are people from different sects, different castes.
Many attempts to provoke chaos in the country by targeting such things have been made but each time we found ourselves blessed by the odds.
What if we fear? We were created that way for we are humans. But we do accept the truth of death. What if we die? There is nothing more glorious than blood paid for the safety of our homeland. Honour and pride never let people die.
There are people who tried many times to break the bond among us. And they always failed. The reason is that we are not afraid. Because we know if we fall, there are others who care for us. They do not call themselves Pukhtoon or Punjabi, Shi’a or Sunni, civilian or military. They unite us with a bond. Call us a nation. For, we are Pakistanis.
UMAIR ZIA
Islamabad
