Respect : For my Fallen Comrades

By Hammad Anwar

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The recent tragedy at Gayari Sector which recently cost us 135 precious lives has again highlighted the Sachin issue. The highest battlefield in the world, where both countries have lost almost 6200 lives and most of them at the hands of the cruel weather there. It is another tragic day for the country whose media spent most of time highlighting a "private trip" to our neighbors which was carried out by using 2 planes, carrying 40 people and $1million.

Regardless of the fact who was at the fault in 1984 at Siachin issue, it is a sad day in the history of country. We are already losing lives of our people on daily basis through suicide bombers, target killings, blasts, military operations, ethnic murders and even suicides. The last one is probably the most under rated one but the rate of suicides due to troublesome economic conditions is alarmingly high.   

Coming back to the Gayari Incident, it is true that most of our so called intellectuals are spending too much time on social media criticizing the armies, the policies and the governments of the both countries. But I am not here to talk about that, these issues have been there for more than quarter of century now and if they were that sincere in solving them they would have done it. The thing I am going to highlight is the jazba of the people who serve up there. Unlike the common perception, some people do actually volunteer themselves for it. They have something which we definitely lack, i.e. a clear vision and faith. You can argue and even criticize them but how many of us actually have guts to go up there and serve. They believe in this country, in their people, and they are not the ones who deal with US leaders or plan military coup. They know one thing that up there, they are the ones defending each inch of their territory. This is something you cant just inject or buy with money. They believe in their cause. And we sit here, on our comfortable beds and write blogs how we are going to bring tsunami. Lets be honest, how many of vouching for Imran Khan has actually attended his rallies as well. Or how many of us are actually willing to go out for protests against fuel prices in coming days? Of course, not everyone is same and personally I know many people, who have done much more than just writing a blog, but the worsening conditions in this country definitely indicates that the majority is still sleeping.

So, I take this moment to salute those people, let them be policemen or the military people, who truly are faithful to their cause. Who when given that uniform and gun believes that they have a cause to serve. These people believe in this country, there is a reason that when elder son dies, parents present their younger son to the army. Blame the generals, blame the leaders but respect those who are better than us who have something to believe! Some aim to live!