Look closely at this
picture. This is not a scene from Hollywood or some Bollywood movie. Nor is it
some kind of rehearsal for an Army Exercise. This is a real life scene. The
Officer in the picture is a Commando in the Pakistan Army - Special Service
Group.
This picture was taken
some while back. It is of Capt Bilal from 3 Commando Battalion, with multiple
bullet wounds to the head and chest area. He survived this attack,
and recovered in hospital, and was subsequently sent back to North Wazirstan to
continue leading counter-insurgency missions.
On a subsequent mission,
he received an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) round directly at his chest. He
did not survive this encounter.
Pause for a moment, and
think of Captain Bilal, a young man, in his early twenties, but with the
appearance of a man many years older than his true age.
Pause for a moment, and
think of all the Pakistani men who have fallen in battle, fighting an
unwinnable war in North Wazirstan, but fighting nonetheless, because Pakistani
soldiers have been threatened and coerced into fighting someone else’s war –
NATO’s war – by members of the NATO alliance in Afghanistan.
Think for a moment, if
you have time and have not been influenced by the likes of Aasma Jahangir and
Aitizaz and the self acclaimed "THEKEDARS" of Islam, and the
heartless civilian leadership of this country.
Now ask yourself why you
don’t read about The Captain Bilal’s of this world, and how their efforts never
make the newspapers, be it the New York Times, or the Sydney Morning Herald.
Ask yourself why we
allowed Capt Bilal’s life to be sold so cheaply.
Why we continue to allow
our jawans and our officers to be slaughtered for someone elses war.
Mamoon Tahir
Sec F
