If we compare what Pakistan and its military have done in the war
against terror and what it has got in return, we see nothing but
humiliation, betrayals, admonitions, do more-do more mantras from
the international community, and on home front unannounced and
unauthorised drone attacks, and unending wave of suicide attacks,
bomb blasts killings of innocent civilian and security people,
matchless sacrifices of our jawans and officers in the war,
displacement of millions of people, damages to government and public
properties, severe blow to economic activity, shattering of the
social and public life, and what not. One cannot blame others, the
international community and India-Israel influenced American
‘friends’, but it becomes highly painful when it comes to our own
people, the people at the helm of affairs, the representatives who
enjoy power on public vote. How can a government justify accepting
the Kerry-Lugar Bill that is a direct interference in Pakistan’s
security mechanism, that speaks humiliating and disgracing language?
Problem is that we are enemy of ourselves. Worst enemies of us are
the people within us. Senators Kerry or Lugar are not the
humiliators alone, our own people, including Hussain Haqqani gave
them the way to degrade Pakistan. Their crime is unpardonable.
—Peshawar
Lady teacher’s sacrifice
Farooq Ahmed
A primary school was situated in the suburbs of Garhi Habibullah, a
land called heaven on earth. The area was serene and known for its
captivating natural beauty. After the daily morning assembly, young
boys of the 4th Class were proceeding to their classroom. Their
teacher, Ms Mahnoor, was helping them assemble in the classroom and
sharing greetings of ‘good morning’ with each student. One of the
students, Najma aged 9, also moved towards Ms Mahnoor, presented a
flower to the teacher, and innocently said: “Miss you are looking
great today.” The teacher enjoyed the gesture and smilingly accepted
the red rose.
Ms Mahnoor was not only a teacher but also like a friend to her
students. She earned respect because of her devotion and commitment
to the profession. Being the only child of her parents, Mahnoor was
not supposed to do a teacher’s job but get married. Teaching
profession, however, was running in her blood and she could never
have thought of leaving it. Whenever there was a talk of her tying
the knot, she always tried to change the topic.
But then the tragic day of October 8 came. The moment Mahnoor
finished the routine roll call; the earth shook and shook hard. All
of a sudden the two-storey building caved in and hundreds of the
students, including 25 of her class, got entrapped under the debris,
most of them crushed to death. For moments a mysterious silence
engulfed the whole atmosphere until the trapped students’ cries
started coming out. They were asking for help, help. Ms Mahnoor legs
got trapped under the heavy beam of the roof. She tried to pull them
out but it was obviously impossible. But after all she was a
responsible teacher to whom the students were like her own children.
She heard their shrieks and cries around and of some the last
agonizing breaths. Her sense of responsibility overpowered her own
agony of getting trapped in the jaws of death. Gathering all her
courage and mustering all her energies, she started calling names of
all the students one by one as if she was administering roll call.
Obviously very few responded and asked her for water. There was dust
all around where it was very difficult to breathe.
They all were trapped in the class room and there was no way out. As
the dust settled, panic gripped those who survived. There was almost
complete darkness all around and all the exit points were blocked.
Mahnoor, whose legs were crushed and the blood was continuously
oozing out, did not lose courage for caring her students. Despite
the agony of severe pain, she would try to soften her voice and
gently call every one there and enquire about their health. She
would pose before the children as if she was alright and that their
parents were coming to take them along. She would ask them “be cool,
don’t get panicky, stay where you are, they are coming, they are
coming very soon.” As the children were repeatedly asking for water
and the teacher knew the water available in students’ bottles would
soon get finished. So asked Asad and Bilal to gather all bottles
before her and she then managed sip by sip to save water for more
time. As the time passed by, Mahnoor understood that the earthquake
disaster was not confined to her classroom, but at a wider and
larger scale. She realized that the children and she might not be
reached by the rescuers for fairly a long time. Close to evening
that day, she heard some locals trying to remove the rubble. She
heard voices, murmuring that the debris could not be removed without
the help of machines, cranes and lifters. For Ms Mahnoor it was
difficult to keep the panicked children calm and quiet. Those who
got multiple injuries were without doctor’s help. Herself trapped
teacher was the only voice of cure for them. She then invented novel
way to keep them busy. Amidst the pain and agony, that was the
bottom line of the devastation that day, she started telling tales
of ancient times, stories of valor of our forefathers, infusing a
sense of courage among the young ones as to how to laugh at the
death and danger.
Her technique worked. The children felt a renewed courage and vigor
to fight back. Her technique of gaining time also worked. And the
time came when the Pakistan Army troops reached the site, started
removing the hundreds of tons of rubble, using heavy machinery with
utmost care. Army jawans led by a young officer soon made it
possible to make a way to the classroom. For Mahnoor the Army jawans
were a ray of hope. She cried and asked them to save the children
first. The children were evacuated from under the debris one by one
and handed over to their loved ones. Then the turn came of Mahnoor
but she refused. “Take the dead bodies of six children first”, she
cried. Much of her blood had already been shed. The bleeding proved
to her fatal. As the last body of child was being evacuated, she
breathed her last before the jawans could take her out to have some
life support. As the body of that great woman was being taken out,
all the survived children did painfully weep. I as a witness to that
event would never be able to forget those moments.
A number of other school buildings also collapsed in Muzaffarabad,
Hazara and elsewhere in AJK. Thousands of schoolchildren died in
this catastrophe. In Azad Kashmir and Hazara region hundreds of
schools razed to the ground. This area had one of the highest
literacy rates in the country. The Pakistan Army along with NGOs and
the international community established tent schools in the
quake-affected areas. The tent schools ensured the timely completion
of academic year. The school buildings are being replaced but no one
can replace the lost generation. The attendance register of Ms
Mahnoor’s class shows some of the students will remain absent for
ever. So will remain Mahnoor.—Via email
Incredible services
Anwar Parveen
There are some actions when taken on time and with dedication become
a part of history and are revered in minds with respect and honour.
The day of 08 October is remembered as a tragedy which not only
brought disaster but also set examples of extreme sacrifice and
concern for each other as a nation. The disaster was sudden and on a
large scale. The nation was stunned as how to cope with the tragedy.
And at this crucial moment without delay the Army showed its
concern, came forward and took the responsibility of handling
emergency situation. The first initial hours left every body in a
state of shock and then these men of steel with heart of gold
extended their services. They moved swiftly, reached the place
analysed the situation, started evacuation, saved those who were
buried under rubble, protected women and children, provided food
shelter and medical facilities.
They provided psychological help, stayed with the grieved people and
consoled them. And at that time no one knew that most of the
officers and men have their own family members trapped in the same
situation and they had no information about them.. But for them the
priority was their duty and their responsibility. They took care of
everything in such a magnificent manner that the suffering of the
people was lessened. The services provided by the defenders of the
country proved that they are always vigil and are there in the hour
of need. —Rawalpindi
Cumbersome visa process
Taimur Zaheer Farooqi
In the past few years Pakistanis have had to face increasing
resistance to their ability to travel abroad. Popular destinations
like the USA and the UK, have erected huge barriers, when it comes
to issuing visas to people from Pakistan. Admittedly, in the present
global scenario, countries do have to be careful about whom they
allow to enter the territory, but this process of vetting out
undesirables has been taken to new extremes by the Embassy of the
United Kingdom. The most bizarre reasons that one can come up with
are routinely presented as excuses to prevent perfectly normal
people from Pakistan being granted permission to visit the UK.
The case of the Mr. Imtiaz Ahmed, a member of Pakistan’s civil
service is a case in point here. Despite having shown evidence of
enough funds to finance his trip to the UK, he was rejected on
grounds of lack of finance. Recently, a mother who wanted to attend
her daughters graduation in the UK, who has been a regular traveler
to the UK since her childhood was denied the visa on grounds of her
not having sufficient links to Pakistan. This to a woman, who has
spent her whole life in Pakistan, who’s immediate and extended
family all live in Pakistan. —Rawalpindi
Mir Qasims
A. Alvi
There had been tug of war between the traitors of Bengal. After Mir
Jaffar, the East India Company (EIC) installed Mir Qasim with
harsher pre-conditions than those of inked with his predecessor to
further tighten their grip on the subcontinent. Mir Qasim exhausted
soon and Mir Jaffar staged a comeback by striking a harshest deal
with the EIC. Very soon Mir Jaffar got emptied and before Mir Qasim
again offered his services, Bengal was directly included in the
EIC’s occupied domains.
In today’s Pakistan the tug of war is not to run the country
smoothly, to steer Pakistan out of crisis or to give good governance
and emerge out as a responsible state – but the tug of war is
between today’s Mir Jaffars and Mir Qasims. There seems no doubt
that Zardari and his team are playing Mir Qasims’ role. Bengal sans
Sirajuddaula was like a rudderless ship and the people without
leadership were repeatedly made a scapegoat at the hands of Mir
Jaffar and Mir Qasim. How long the leaderless people of Pakistan
shall be held hostage to the Mir Jaffars and Mir Qasims of our
times? The Kerry-Lugar Bill is not just the US (EIO) pre-conditions;
it is the document to consolidate Mir Qasims to exhaust out
Pakistan. —Rawalpindi
