Pakistan Day, 23rd of March, has always been a source of great excitement, especially for children. Our earliest memories of childhood are feeling a surge of thrill when the airplanes would start sounding days ahead of 23rd March. Students would have loved to run out of classrooms to see the smoke trail of flying jets. And then, on the morning of the 23rd, as the sky would start thundering, there would be a hue and cry and the dads and the kids would rush up the stairs to the roof, to watch the air show live. Only the mums and the grandparents would watch it on the TV screens. And it was a family treat if the dads had managed to get passes to watch the Pakistan Day Parade on ground at the Parade Ground.
The first dent that came to this zeal was when COAS & President Pervaiz Musharraf single-mindedly decided to participate in America’s infamous war-of-terror against sense and sensibility and sentiments of the people of Pakistan. There was a great resentment but this resentment was curbed with an iron fist. Nobody was allowed to speak against Pakistan’s participation in the war-of-terror. It was a true and true dictatorship with both the office of COAS and Presidency in Musharraf’s pocket. The civilians could only fume and bite their lips in frustration while the Afghan Taliban de facto TTP responded by starting doing guerilla warfare against the armed forces of Pakistan. Please note, the culprit was America and the participant was Pakistan, but only the Pakistani soldiers and police became the target, because the Americans were safe and away. Post 9/11, things got so bad that the Pakistani soldiers were advised by security agencies not to go in public in uniform. In other words, they had to hide their identity to avoid becoming a target. Sad isn’t it ?
In this enforced war-of-terror, Pakistan suffered around eighty thousand deaths to counter the five thousand deaths of 9/11. Who is responsible for this bloodshed ? Pervaiz Musharraf. When Pervaiz Musharraf was ousted from power in 2009 by the Lawyer’s Movement, the people of Pakistani breathed a sigh of relief … thinking that the worst is over. The Army also sought damage recovery by boosting its ISPR department, getting creative and producing patriotic dramas and songs. The civilians also reconnected to the romantic era of Sunehray Din, Dhuwan and Alpha Bravo Charlie when the people of Pakistan were in love with the Armed Forces of Pakistan. There was a half expectation that somebody from among the new Generals, Ashfaq Kayani or Raheel Shareef would hold a court martial of Pervaiz Musharraf, because some of the core commanders spoke out against Pervaiz Musharraf in his last years, expressing disapproval over the fact that when America called upon Pakistan to join in the war-of-terror, Musharraf never bothered to consult anyone, neither the parliament as the president nor his core commanders as their chief. But the Pakistani people were met with silence. Our hopes rose again when the courts gave him the death sentence for treason but that too he escaped and later it was nullified. Sadly, the treason case against him, was not for the blood of our soldiers, nor the sale of our civilians, but for ousting certain politicians from power. Ironic isn’t it ?
By the time Qamar Javed Bajwa came, people of Pakistan were all guards down. We never thought anything of the sort would happen again. Musharraf, even though not punished, but had been forced into exile, thereby becoming an exemplary warning for all. Bajwa didn’t say or do much, so he was a blank face for most of us. We even wrote him letters for the freedom of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. Ha! Musharraf had boasted in his book of selling hundreds of Pakistani men, women and children. Little did we know that Bajwa was about to sell out the entire Pakistan, inclusive of its population, economy, judiciary, defence … even jeopradizing its nuclear status !
So the question is, why were we fooled since our childhood ? Why were we told that we are a strong nation ? Why were we impressed that we have a great defence ? Why were we told on 28th May 1998 that Pakistan has now become unbeatable after becoming a nuclear power ? Whence only three years afterwards, America thrashed the hell out of us. Actually America did not, but Musharraf got hell scared by a simple phone call. Why did we have a coward like Musharraf as our chief ? Why couldn't we say no to America after 9/11 ? Why couldn't we refuse to hand over Dr. Aafia Siddiqui ? Why couldn't we hang Raymond Davis ? Why couldn't we shoot down drones ? Why couldn’t we deny American basis ? Why can’t we say Absolutely Not ? Why do we have a traitor like Bajwa as our chief ? Who governs our chief selection process ? Skills, seniority or America ?
And the poor people of Pakistan, kept clapping their hands at every Pakistan Day Parade, not knowing that the soldiers, the guns, the missiles, the tanks, the jets, the parachutes, the paratroopers … was just a show and that they were only being entertained …
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