To Die For.....the War at Wana

Images flashed on the television screen; a burning truck, scattered FC troops behind mud barricades and coffins wrapped in the national flag. This was the footage of the war taking place in Wana - where our soldiers are engaged in a bloody combat with the so called foreign militants.

We all know what has led to this military conflict in Wana. The general’s threat to the tribal elders, the revelation of his killers’ identities, and the need to impress the great Colin Powell. An interesting mix of events that has triggered off a war that has left many wounded and dead.

Who are the dead? For us, they are just names that are announced in the news or printed in newspapers. They are men who have laid down their lives, fighting in the sweltering heat against trained militants bent upon killing. They are men whose bodies were put in wooden coffins with the green and white flag around it and carried off to be buried ceremoniously. But they are also men who leave behind old mothers and fathers, young siblings and anxious wives whose existence depended wholly on the shoulders of the young soldiers. And the soldiers lie dead in the battle.

Soldiers are supposed to lay down their lives for their homeland. They are trained for this from the day they wear the uniform that they so proudly exhibit. Theirs is not to question why, theirs is but to do and die. And that is what our soldiers have been doing since this country was born, laying down their lives for no worthy cause and asking no questions.

It was these soldiers who had laid down their lives in the 1965 war after our leaders' failure to rouse the Kashmiris to a full fledged combat with India. It was these soldiers, who were forced to surrender in 1971, when their leaders forgot that they had responsibility towards the people of the Eastern wing of the country. It was these soldiers, who went to the cold, treacherous mountains of Kargil to fight a war with an enemy that never existed - all because our leaders failed to understand yet again, the consequences of their actions and policies.

History tends to repeat itself again and again in Pakistan. Yet we fail to learn any lesson from it. The soldiers who have died in Wana are not the only people who are dead. We, as a nation, are dead. We accept everything that is thrown our way by our leaders. We swallowed the bitter pill of the nuclear debacle and confined our views to our drawing rooms, offices and restaurants. Few eyebrows were raised over the killings of Quetta and again our views remained confined within our boundary walls.

Wana is just another incident. Tune in to the news at night and hear about it. Or pick up the newspaper and read of the killings and death toll. And then, yawn, stretch yourself and change the channel. It’s not your fault anyways; you’re a part of the dead.