 |
| |
WEEKLY
SECTIONS |
|
|
 |
| Dying with boots on |
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Death is indeed inevitable. Yet there are times a person is left shattered by the loss, even though it is known we all have to leave one day. Six months back I lost my father, my best friend, my superman. I ranted and I raved and I thought it was unfair of God to take my strength away. Time has passed but the pain has never lessened -- I am just learning to live with it.
We live, we pray, we sit but who is there guarding us? It is indeed our brave soldiers who are fighting in hot sweltering heart deprived of basic necessities. We have lost so many brave sons in the fight against the Taliban. The Taliban slaughter and behead innocents and then mutilate their bodies. And they do all this in the name of Islam – so they say. Everyday we are losing brothers, fathers, husbands, cousins to these animals. I knew some of the soldiers personally, others I didn't yet, for everyone martyred my heart bled. They are the true lions of our nation, the true sherdils who did not surrender.
Capt Salman Lodhi was martyred in the same Lal Masjid operation. He too always wanted to be a shaheed. So many others followed him, the same fearless way. Capt Waqas Zameer Shaheed from the 15 FF embraced shahadat during Operation Rah-e-Haq. He was martyred while saving his 15 troops in the combat. He saved them all but embraced martyrdom in the act and died with his boots on. We salute you. Capt Najam. Lieutenant Junaid and two other soldiers were martyred after being kept for weeks in the militants' custody. Sadly the atrocities of the Taliban did not end there. They were all beheaded and mutilated before their bodies were sent to the army.
There are countless other soldiers we have lost to the Taliban. Countless families left incomplete and in mourning. It is indeed an awakening for all of us, a new beginning for Pakistan. We cannot let their supreme sacrifices made by all of these brave martyrs go to waste. They may have gone but each of them has left us a message, a message of freedom and sacrifice. We might never be able to repay their debt but the least we can do is recognise our unsung heroes and not let their blood go waste. We owe this to our martyrs, to their families and, most of all, our ancestors. We won't let the Taliban take over our country no matter what we have to give up. This is our country and ours it shall remain.
And to the martyrs and their families: we as a nation can't ever thank you enough for sacrificing yourselves for our better tomorrow. You gave the supreme sacrifice. You are still alive and shall be alive till eternity. We salute all of you. We can't take the pain away from your families, your loved ones but we can share their pain. Out of the night that covers me / Black as the pit from pole to pole / I thank God / For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance / I have not winced nor cried aloud / Under the bludgeoning of chance / My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Mehvish Z Alavi
(Daughter of Maj-Gen Amir Faisal Alvi -- a former chief of the SSG)
Islamabad
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
| |
|
|
| Back
| Send
this story to Friend | Print
Version |
|
|
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
ShareThis