Better Pakistan
01 February, 2012
By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Que (Kay) Sera, Sera, Whatever will be, will be The future's not ours, to see Que (Kay) Sera, Sera What will be, will be.
That one day I would be a columnist from an easy going 'Letter Writer' was not in the wildest of my dreams. But here I am and that too at the belated age of 82! When I look back over the years there are literally thousands of things that have happened to me and around me but the most telling of them all is Pakistan. I was a college going student in 1947 and as such saw it in the making, consolidating itself, making progress in leaps and bounds, fighting five wars with India – two fully fledged (yes Sir, five. Kashmir 1948, Run of Kachh 1965, Indo-Pak War 1965, Indo-Pak War 1971, Kargil 1990), bifurcating itself into two and being gnawed at till date by the plunderers and usurpers.
Unfortunately, not all our writers have been honest and in their over patriotic zeal and emotionalism have not only lost sight of the facts but also introduced fables and fantasies in our short history. Just to cite an example or two; "In the battle of Chawinda (1965) soldiers laying themselves before the Indian tanks with mines strapped to their chests!" "Angels clad in green with white turbans seen fighting alongside Pak soldiers against the Hindu kafirs in 1965".
Unfortunately the same historians saw no such super natural beings in the 1971 war. These instances are not taken from any fictional comic strip or magic magazines but from the government prescribed school text books for the very young children of highly impressionable tender age! The nation has been fed for too long on the lies – some intentionally, some innocently - by the interested parties and groups. I think it was time to explode such myths, fantasies and fabrications that have marred the vision of our founding fathers and put Pakistan on a track altogether different than what it was created for.
I intend to do it. Do it for the youth who will be the future leaders of the country. Do it for the posterity to keep the record straight. Do it to make Pakistan better.
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
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