The Zamurad Bravery

Thursday, 15^th August 2013: Islamabad saw one of the weirdest acts of terrorism, when a person named Sikander appeared on Jinnah Avenue, Blue Area, accompanied with his wife, two children and guns. This spot is only a few kilometers away from the Parliament and the Red Zone of the capital of Pakistan. Sikander fired into the air to get attention and then kept the police and security agencies on the hook for more than five hours. It was extremely frustrating to watch. A common person like me was commenting, ‘Okay, even if they want to catch him alive, why cannot they shoot a couple of bullets at his legs and over-power him?’

Finally, an ex-parliamentarian, Chairman Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal and PPP member, Zamurad Khan, appeared on the scene after spending a similarly frustrating time in front of the TV as the rest of the public. He was instructed by the police to stay back but he insisted to go forward. He pretended to talk to Sikander’s children and soon enough jumped at Sikander to take him down. Zamurad slipped and then the surrounding police triggered into action…a much awaited and delayed action! They made some aerial shots to confuse Sikander and then shot at his legs, which staggered him and he was over-powered at last.

The media and public went into a frenzy. In this deadly stand-off, Zamurad Khan came out as a hero, while the police, security agencies and most importantly, the Interior Ministry whose instructions were being followed, reflected in a bad light. The media and public hailed Zamurad Khan for his bravery; the fact that he could not stand the nonsense of the guy Sikander, the fact that he went ahead despite orders to stay back and the fact that he took on the armed guy unarmed. Zamurad Khan put an end to a nerve-ending terrorist stand-off in the middle of the capital of Pakistan by an individual’s act.

Following, the Interior Ministry and the Police department had to face awkward questions by the media and public for their unfathomable delay and inaction against Sikander. It seems that their embarrassment turned into a political pressure and within twenty-fours hours, the media had a mood-shift. It now began questioning the individual act of Zamurad Khan; did he do the right thing? Was it wise to take on an unarmed guy while himself unarmed? Was it right to disobey police orders? Was it right for a civilian to take law into his own hands?

I agree that what Zamurad Khan did was ‘technically incorrect’ and an extremely risky thing. He could have gotten shot. The civilians standing around could have gotten shot. Any media, political or police personnel could have gotten shot. However, all these people could have also gotten shot while Zamurad Khan took no action for the guy Sikander was brandishing his gun from time to time in any case.

Thus, I am grateful to the news analyst, Sir Najam Sethi, for his clear-cut and sharp analysis of the situation and the act of Zamurad Khan. In his talk-show, Aapis ki Baath, Najam Sethi ke Saath on GEO TV, he said that no civilian has the right to take up a misadventure such as Zamurad Khan did, no one has the right to disobey state-institutional orders and no one has the right to take law into his own hands, however, when the state-institutions fail to do their duty, when they fail to respond and act in the face of a criminal offence and when they behave like sitting ducks, nature has its own way of responding to a crisis and it is then that individuals step forward with an individual act to fill the gap of an action wanted but yet unperformed. Thereby, he downright supported Zamurad Khan’s action.

Well said, Sethi Sahab, well said. Perhaps, Sethi Sahab, you would also care to relate this theory of state inaction and individual’s actions to other episodes of injustice, oppression and terrorism.

Mumtaz Qadri was also an individual who reacted to state inaction towards out, loud Blasphemy. Then, while Blasphemy against the Prophet is a recognized crime, there are factions among one Islamic sect who actually organize Majalis, purporting Blasphemy against Shahaba RA, and no one takes an utter notice of them. When Lashkar-e-Jhangvi reacts to this blasphemy, everyone cries ‘Ugh’. Yes, but what about ‘Ughing’ upon organized character assassination of Syedna Ayesha RA, Syedna Abu Bakr RA and Syedna Umar RA?  Faisal Shahzad was also an individual who lost his mind and reasoning to drone killings, family massacres and homes being razed to the ground. Taliban, Al-Qaeda and all other militant groups worldwide are also reactionary groups to the inaction, rather cooperation of Muslim states with global bullies in their injustice, oppression and encroachment upon Muslim lands, resources and ideology.

What should individuals do when one shot at Malala Yousufzai earns her a helicopter escort, 24-hour media coverage, many days of vigil, medical treatment in UK, international scholarships, foreign job for her father, speech invitations at UN, multiple national and international awards, painted portraits and movie scripts upon her life story, while a similar girl, but only of age seven, stands screaming in terror in her abandoned school as Israeli warplanes bombard a Palestinian locality and I do not even know her name. What should individuals do when a ten-year-old Palestinian girl braves up to go to her school which is past an Israeli check-post and the Israeli soldiers fire nineteen bullets in her head and I do not even know her name. The world mourns the closure of girls’ schools in Afghanistan and North-West Pakistan at the hands of Taliban, but what should individuals do when one Iraqi parents stop sending their girl-child to school because she had to cross an American check post on the way and the soldiers standing there used to leer at her beauty. Then one fatal day, not going to school did not save her! The soldiers came home, tied up the parents, tied up the girl-child, raped her mercilessly and then set her mutilated body to flames. And the world does not even know her name.

But somebody does.

Some individuals, here and there, remember these episodes very well.

Some individuals are not interested in useless vigils, useless awards and useless Bush apologies.

Some individuals seethe for revenge, which cannot bring back their terrorized, dead and raped daughters, much worse than what happened to Malala Yousufzai, but it gives them one small moment of sustaining revenge.

I think you know the name of these individuals. We call them ‘terrorists’.

Really, we should think before calling anyone a terrorist. They might actually be victims of a global, organized and targeted terrorist movement themselves and reacting only.     

Think before calling Zamurad Khan stupid. What would you call the response of the authorities who have the authority, responsibility and resources to respond responsibly and yet do not?

Does secularism and atheism blind one to natural psychology and the basic principle of Physics that every action has an equal and opposite reaction ?