“Any moment might be our last. Everything is more beautiful because we’re doomed. You will never be lovelier than you are now. We will never be here again.” —The Iliad
Rawalpindi, Pakistan: On the eve of Yaum-e-Takreem-e-Shuhada-e-Pakistan, CJCSC, Services Chiefs, retired services officers, and representatives of civil society pay rich tributes to shuhada (martyrs) of Pakistan who rendered ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty for ensuring integrity, sovereignty and honor of the nation and motherland.
The sacrifices of Shuhada are eternal, will continue to inspire future generations of countrymen, and will never be forgotten, irrespective of vicious propaganda by the enemies of Pakistan.
Today is a day for the entire nation to commemorate and honor each and every Shaheed of the Armed Forces, Law Enforcement Agencies, and the Civil Society who laid their lives for upholding the very purpose and ideals Pakistan stands for.
“Shuhada e Pakistan are our heroes and a great asset, whose ultimate sacrifices can never be allowed to be demeaned or undermined by anyone. Pakistani nation takes pride and solemnly pledges to remain deeply indebted to them and their proud families. Shuhada were, are, and will continue to be our pride, come what may.
The day of May 9, 2023, has changed the social and philosophical spectrum of Pakistan because this unfortunate day witnessed shocking events and the vandalization of military installations, and sacred monuments of martyrs –“Shaheed” is a symbol of sacrifices for any decent and living nation and that all was done just for gaining political leverage.
The sanctity of the Shuhada holds the utmost importance and they include the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, and civilians, these individuals, through their selflessness and sacrifice, uplifted the spirit of Pakistan and fortified its integrity.
The vandalism that the nation witnessed on May 9, 2023, was unprecedented but surely it indicated that the intellectual strata of Pakistan were justified to express their fears in advance that the PTI had pushed division within the society to no return level and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has sole agenda that is the division of society that could lead the division of the country. Such fears had not been taken seriously in the past by the state unless this all happened and left everybody in shock.
One popular question that is being asked in social media is why did protesters attack monuments of martyrdom. The answer is simple if someone understands historic, religious, and social perspectives of martyrdom.
The best possible way to understand the philosophy of martyrdom is through the poetry of Allama Muhammad Iqbal and his famous Nazm covers almost all the important ingredients of martyrdom.
He writes:
Ye Ghazi, Ye Tere Purisrar Bande
Jinhain Tu Ne Bakhsha Hai Zuaq-e-Khudai
(These warriors, victorious, These worshippers of Yours,
Whom You have granted the will to win power in Your name;)
Do-Neem In Ki Thoukar Se Sehra-o-Darya
Simat Kar Pahar In Ki Haibat Se Rayi
(Who cleave rivers and woods in twain,
Whose terror turns mountains into dust;)
Do Alam Se Karti Hai Baigana Dil Ko
Ajab Cheez Hai Lazzat-e-Ashnayi
(They care not for the world;
They care not for pleasures;)
Shahadat Hai Matloob-o-Maqsood-e-Momin
Na Maal-e-Ghanimat Na Kishwar Kushayi
(In their passion, in their zeal, In their love for Thee, O Lord,
They aim at martyrdom, Not the rule of the earth.)
The target was not military installations but the reputational approach that actually creates a theory of martyrdom to affect the collective memory of the respective era. Therefore, the target of miscreants was the reputation of the Pakistan Army neither any individual of this institution nor mere tangible items that were destroyed.
Students of the philosophy of communication know that “The Iliad”, of Homer written over 3000 years ago indicates that nations cannot survive without glorifying and remembering War Heroes.
“Let me not then die ingloriously and without a struggle, but let me first do some great thing that shall be told among men hereafter.” — The Iliad
“Why so much grief for me? No man will hurt me down to Death, against my fate. And fate? No one alive has ever escaped it, neither brave man nor coward, I tell you – it’s born with us the day that we are born.” — The Iliad
“Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.” —- The Iliad
