Daily Times

The recent ‘revelations’ of a
former general have created a firestorm, and the entire talk show circuit has picked up the issue of the Kargil war as the ‘latest sensation’. There are people repeating and regurgitating everything that any reasonable person knew from the get-go. This scribe with zero background in military strategy is on the record right here questioning the ‘misadventure’ of Kargil and its aftermath. Of course, as usual, there is talk of controversy and the timing of the book written by General Shahid Aziz is being questioned. There is the usual outcry by people on TV that the Indian media is exploiting the situation to its advantage and maligning our dear country. I have said it earlier and will repeat; if you have a weakness, it will be exploited by your own and others at all times, no matter what.

My critics often take my rather blunt and often very straightforward style as some ‘conspiracy’. With the amount of conspiracies that are hatched within and against our country, one can easily call it ‘Conspiristan’. To allay the concerns of all of those who brand me as some Indian agent, please look at my hyphenated identity. I am a Pakistani first, by birth. Three-plus decades later, away from my country of birth, not a single day has elapsed when this eight-letter word Pakistan, has not come up on my tongue. Until this day, when I hear Ustad Amanat Ali or anyone singing Aye Watan Pyarey Watan, Pak Watan (O my beautiful beloved country), it moistens my eyes. I still remember his renditions, post the 1971 debacle, like the aforementioned or Chand Meri Zameen, Phool Mera Watan (My land as clear as a moon and as fragrant as flowers), playing on PTV. No, I am not an Indian agent who is trying to further a nefarious agenda. I have never been to India, but I do admire its progress and its promising future ahead. I do have Indian friends and colleagues whom I respect immensely. Very sadly, on both ends if you hate the other, then and only then you can prove your sincerity to your respective land. I vehemently disagree with that typical definition of a patriot.

Then there is another accusation that I repeatedly criticise the men in uniform to please the eastern neighbour. Folks who read my weekly submissions by now would agree that I have the utmost admiration for soldiers on fronts like Siachen, Kargil and the much acclaimed Line of Control (LoC), and may I add equally on both ends, whether Pakistan or India. The soldier on the other side is facing the brunt of the same unbearably harsh weather just for the call of duty as well. I have said it in the past, I will repeat again. I will salute those selfless souls until my last breath. This salute goes out to the men on the other end as well. This logic of mine infuriates my brethren a lot.

How can one wish one’s so-called enemy well? I often wonder, had that line not been drawn back in 1947, we would not be in this situation at all. No, I am not going to regurgitate my old write-ups here, which criticised the bloody partition. I would like to direct the attention of the uniformed men on both ends. Next time, when you face the portraits of Jinnah and Gandhi on your walls, just look them in the eye and render a salute. Do not lower your hand or gaze at all. Please confess to them that you are not true soldiers any more. An officer is trained to be a valiant soldier. When he wears that uniform, he takes an oath that he will uphold the honour of that precious uniform. Without that uniform, an officer is an ordinary civilian. That uniform gives him the dignity and earns him tremendous respect. The rigorous training that officers go through prepares them to be men of steel, yet with a caring heart. Neither do these men leave one of their own behind, nor do they disrespect their foes.

There is a code of conduct that is engrained in the psyche of a true soldier. A true soldier knows that a prisoner of war or a captive enemy is not beheaded but kept in humane conditions. Yet how pathetic this division has been, where trained and educated soldiers are violating the basic and very fundamental code of their own profession. Accusations are being hurled against one another for this gruesome exercise.

We witnessed through the pages of history that the fathers of our nations disagreed with one another but with utmost respect. Never in their wildest imagination could they have envisioned the rift between the two neighbours. I am not a proponent of the reunification of a fragmented subcontinent, but strongly propagate peaceful coexistence. For a parting thought to soldiers on both ends, 65 years later, thousands of your fellow comrades have fallen. You say with grace that until your last drop of blood, you will defend every single inch of your motherland. You are very right, I say. Defend the Line of Control, shed your blood as you desire, but please never cross that line of ‘self-control’, the line that distinguishes a real soldier from a barbarian.

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