Martyrdom of the sons of soil
PAKISTAN defence forces are the most professional forces in the world. This professionalism is acknowledged globally by the strategic policy makers from time to time.
Different writers within and outside Pakistan have tried to attack Pakistan defence forces and still as busy as busy-bees to tarnish its image in the eyes of Pakistanis and international community.
In the post 9/11, America, India and Israel launched unabated propaganda against Pak Army through creating various anti-Pakistan and anti-Army narratives.
Such narratives also penetrated into academia, especially the universities where pseudo-ethnic nationalist elements tried to exploit the sentiments of innocent students without knowing the security and strategic repercussions of those narratives.
The aim of these elements is to please Uncle Sam and to get nationality through asylum. This is the gross violation of Article 8 (3)(A) of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan because it provides security to the ‘members of the defence forces, or of the police or of such other forces as are charged with the maintenance of public order, for the purpose of ensuring the proper discharge of their duties or the maintenance of discipline among them’.
Anaton Lieven in his work Pakistan: A Hard Country tried to spew poison against Pakistan; however despite his subjective approach he admitted the professionalism of Pakistan Army in the following words: “The only institution which has succeeded to some extent in resisting this in the name of state loyalty and professional meritocracy is the army”.
In the post 9/11, Pakistan was dragged into war on terrorism which created ultra-security threats to common Pakistanis, its political leadership and security agencies.
However, the collective resolve and sacrifices of the people, political leaders and security agencies – civil and military – made possible the restoration of peace in Pakistan.
The Pakistan army always provided services to the civilian government in all odd times whenever the civilian governments failed to give relief to the people during any natural disaster – earthquake, flood, etc; and it fulfilled its constitutional obligation as set out in the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan.
The recent incident of helicopter crash in Balochistan and the martyrdom of soldiers of Pakistan – Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali (Commander 12 Corps), Major General Amjad Hanif (the Director-General of Coast Guards), Brigadier Muhammad Khalid, Major Saeed Ahmed (Pilot), Major Mohammad Talha Manan (the Co-Pilot) of the helicopter and Naik Mudassir Fayyaz – speak loud the loyalty of Pakistan defence forces towards its people and Pakistan.
Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali along with his team was engaged in supervising flood relief operations which met with destruction and were found in Musa Goth, Lasbela, Baluchistan.
The civil administration when failed to provide relief to local people in Balochistan, then its military came forward for their salvation; and top military brass himself led the relief operation in Balochistan at the cost of their own life.
Captain Ahmad Sarfraz, the son of Gen Sarfraz Shaheed was ADC to his father and due to other official engagements, he was not on board on that day, otherwise the bereaved family had to bear the martyrdom of two soldiers.
Similarly, newly promoted Major General Amjad Hanif could not celebrate his elevation to higher rank.
The fragile shoulders of Major Saeed Ahmad Shaheed’s father took the funeral of his son. The families of the martyrs of the helicopter crash received the dead bodies of their loved ones.
In the aftermath of this shocking incident, the enemies of Pakistan and its security agencies turned their guns against the Pakistan Army and tried to sabotage truth with falsehood with traditional unabated propaganda to mislead the common citizens of Pakistan and world community.
One such instance is that of Tribune of India. According to Tribune India, “Baloch Raaji Aajoi Sangar (BRAS) – an umbrella organisation of Baloch armed groups, claimed the responsibility for targeting and downing the military helicopter in the mountainous areas of Windar and Noorani in Balochistan.
”(Tribune India, August 3, 2022 accessed on https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/contrary-to-pak-militarys-report-bras-claims-responsibility-for-downing-helicopter-in-balochistan-418405) Zee Media Bureau rebutted the above false and misleading propaganda of Tribune of India by declaring that “The six individuals on board included the Commander XII Corps Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali, who was supervising the flood relief operations in Balochistan province which has been badly hit by the torrential rains.
” (https://zeenews.india.com/world/pakistan-army-lt-gen-5-others-killed-in-helicopter-crash-in-balochistan-2492513.html)
Ironically and regrettably, our politicians are engaged in daily foul politics and character assassination, but no one bothered to counter such poisonous propaganda of Indian media against our army and its martyrs.
The question is whether is it the sole responsibility of Inter-Service Public Relations to counter such heinous attacks on our security agencies?
This is not an ordinary incident. The wreckage of the helicopter clearly manifested that it was a crash due to unpleasant weather and not due to any targeted attack.
In this ongoing hybrid warfare, the people of Pakistan need to avoid spreading any false propaganda against their country and security agencies.
The media houses need to rebut such a noxious campaign of India and other enemies of Pakistan.
The political leadership, political parties, parliament and civil societies must come forward in this connection.
Need of the hour is to stick to the “One Nation, One Country, and One Army” narrative for survival; and to counter such kind of falsehood with collective national resolve irrespective of political differences.
—The writer is Editor of Journal of Political & Security Studies, ICP & Member of Editorial Board of Journal of Wallacea, University of Western Australia.
