Daily Times

Quite a nerve, one would say. One religio-political leader called a dog getting killed by the US a martyr. One may just ask the learned cleric if it was meant to elevate the status of the recent drone victims or was it meant to give solace to canines that there is a special place for them in the other world? Perplexing, but it is the season of free and free-of-sense speech. I thank my stars for not being able to watch the insanity on the nightly circus. One can only guess what kind of reaction this must have created and how many tongues would have entangled to clarify or condemn the clergy’s position.

Another religio-political clergyman decided to go the extra mile and uttered a rather bizarre and outlandish statement. This one was declaring that the uniformed men and women of the land defending it from terrorists were not martyrs. Of course, this created a firestorm on the social and print media as well. The reaction on social media was quite vocal and tweeters demonstrated their intense rebuke of such an absurd statement.

For a moment, let’s visit the phenomenon of martyrdom. Everyone is into this as we are told from childhood that the best way to go from this world is to lay down your life for the sake of God. I am not theologically inclined, nor am I some sort of learned scholar, but I can safely say that it is a very broad statement. People who selflessly defend their motherland and its people do it for the sake of their country. And that is a cause that is just and right. It provides safety and security to their fellow citizens, who can sleep in peace and comfort. These souls who defend their motherland and lay down their lives, what would you call them? The clergy may argue that these people are not dying for the sake of God, so these people do not quite fit the bill. But you will have to roll back history to see that people who defended the nascent Islamic domain and laid down their lives are still remembered as martyrs. Who does what for what reason is not up to the clergy to decide. It is a domain that only God knows and controls, and only He gets to decide about the fate of these valiant people.

On the other hand, people who create havoc on earth by terror or cruelty perhaps have a special name as well. These people transgress on God’s earth and seek revenge from innocent and unarmed people. Again from whatever little I know about the faith, this sort of conduct is not permitted at all. Even during wartime, there are certain very clear rules, and to kill an unarmed, unsuspecting person, without any distinction between young or old, ill or well, man or woman is certainly not allowed.

Based on the blanket statement from the clergy discrediting the uniformed men and women, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has responded with a strong statement. One may disagree with the aforementioned agency for multiple reasons on various different occasions, but in this instance, one has to wholeheartedly agree with the ISPR. To discredit the selfless men and women on the front lines — who take the brunt of the so-called non-state actors — is in extremely poor taste.

The politicos, who are drumming up the sovereignty debate, have their own agendas. Some are waiting for the holy days of Muharram to pass so they can block the NATO supply lines. This would perhaps send a strong political statement to the member countries of NATO that Pakistan will not tolerate the drones violate its territorial integrity. One can watch their so-called showdown in the coming days, but one can say with relative certainty that it will be nothing more than a temporary stint, a protest for the sake of protest. By the same token, these people should also go to the capital and protest in front of the embassies of a lot of Middle Eastern countries and perhaps Uzbekistan. This protest should demonstrate the outrage that these countries have — perhaps unknowingly — exported their unwanted citizens to our lands. These non-state actors are not only violating our territorial integrity, they are also ruthlessly unleashing terror on our citizens.

Amidst all of this, the terror central of Pakistan, the infamous Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has selected a new leader, Mullah Fazlullah. This not-so-gentle-man has a strong liking for the airwaves and he was previously dubbed as ‘Mullah Radio’. Swat, the Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat Mohammadi, Malala Yousafzai, and army operation are some words of trivia; if you put all these jumbled words and phrases together, you will be able to figure out what lies ahead. One can safely say, more brazen terror, and perhaps in its response, a much-needed operation like the one in Swat.

The writer is a Pakistani-American mortgage banker. He blogs at http://dasghar.blogspot.com and can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar