Through the barbed wire, through the slippery mud of the dangerous terrain, through the harshest chilling winds of winter and some rain, some eyes guard the boundaries of the country. Through the lush green meadows where most of the time calm prevails,a person adjusting a best possible gun stance and looking through scope at the target tries to hit the bulls eye in just a single shot. From smell and sound to touch and perception, he utilizes all the training imparted to him to give it a best short. It is a matter of his reputation as after the training it is expected that he will hit it in a single shot as the same has been trained for it.The school of training must have been orthodox to mother land than to the lesser humanity which infact it should be to withhold the basic law of protecting the motherland.The very basic foundation of the humanity dies as the bullet leaves the barrel. The sound of the gunshot scattered the flock of birds. Impacting those, who do not have any concern of why the bullet is fired and for what motive.After travelling a distance of less than a kilometer it hits the target. “Well done my boy”, shouted the officer in command. It seems that the bullet was fired upon a neighbor as the distance is too close, but in the days of war every dead body is the neighbor of other and vice versa.
Latter in the evening the news read as, “our brave soldiers gave a befitting reply to the enemy against the ceasefire violation”. This act speaks about the valor of our brave soldiers who are guarding the boundaries of our country, replied one of the panelists in the debate show.
I was wondering as if killing a person was called brave or killing the enemy was called brave or killing in the name of land and religion was called brave. The definition of brave suddenly changed for me, one who fights for his land while killing another and in this regard I remember the kalinga war in which Ashoka killed thousands of people including the enemy soldiers, so he is the bravest butthe most regretful man in the history.
My other side:
Surviving in the remotest areas of the country where the basic amenities for living is still a dream, surviving in the world demarcated by a few lines and divided into so called countries where land and religion is given priority over the basic concept of humanity. Which in itself speaks volumes about people you only owe your vote and not your woes. Adjusting the footsteps over the steep peaks of the terrain a person tries to reach the top with the bucket of water. His grip is losing the delicate handle of the bucket as he has already covered a lot of distance from the bottom of the hill. The droplets of sweat on the forehead are visible but it doesn’t matter to him if they fell before he reaches on top. He knows in order to feed his kids his legs and arms should keep moving. Suddenly the silence turned into the grim, before he could realize why birds are hovering at such a faster rate the bucket fell from his hands. He felt like a stinger of an ant pierced his chest and as soon as he put his hand on his chest he realized the blood on his hands. A few cries too loud filled the air with horror but his ears recognizedthis voice which was of his wife. He knew perhaps a bullet has pierced his chest which was fired by the neighbor. He tried to run in order to catch his wife halfway but felt as if his feet were stuck in the ground. Managed to run a few feet he directly fell in his wife’s lap and could utter a few words only, “REST IN PEACE”maybe he knows somehow he will achieve peace after closing his eyes but those living after him will take a long time to achieve the same.
A thousands of words and how well arranged those words still could not describe the grief and pain of a single tear rolling down her cheeks. Her wailing children on the side of his dead body could never understand the ups and downs of the world they are yet to face. In fact a bullet knows no religion and religion knows nothing about poverty and poverty knows a man very well.The only thing it knows is to kill may be a simple concept of physics could explain how but this single bullet can destroy a whole world for a family. How many dreams are shattered by the bullets, how many widows,how many orphans and how many stories history has a long tale to tell. I don’t know what might be the solution of the problem but killing is not the one of them, there are several ways created by god for the solution of a problem which need to be explored, discussed through talks but killing must have never been one among them. This radicalization of the people in the name of land and religion should come to an endas there are already better ways in the world to kill people which include poverty as the major factor and let them die with it if killing is the only solution of the problem.
Latter in the evening the news read as, “The ministry of External Affairs on Friday condemned the ceasefire violation by the troops from the neighboring country in which an innocent civilian was killed and two other injured. Theneighboring country fired on our forward posts and the civilian areas directly which resulted in the loss of precious lives. The high commissioner of the neighboring country was summoned in this regard and the same was conveyed to him. The speaker wore an angry look on his face and said we will be back after a short commercial break.
Aamir Mansoor can be reached at aamir.mansoor469@gmail.com
