Proxy wars

Pictures of widows, orphans, and aged parents of young men and women, receiving posthumous awards for gallantry and offering supreme sacrifice to protect the honor, dignity and security of this country are very moving. We as a nation must ensure that we take care of the needs of these families. This is what we owe to them. Simultaneously we must redress our national security strategy and confine our focus for defending our geographical boundaries from the proclaimed evil designs of Hindutva-led India, which has never accepted the reality and sovereignty of Pakistan as an independent nation. This country has suffered enough because of ambitious misadventures of men like Zia, who in their bid to seek legitimacy for illegal junta, got this country engulfed in a proxy war. This should have been a war between Soviet Union and the US, but instead they prodded Zia to fight this proxy war to avenge their defeat in Vietnam.

Zia and his junta exploited Islam by claiming our involvement in Afghan War as Jihad. Billions of dollars given by CIA to fund this war were siphoned off, while millions of our citizens suffered, our economy ruined. As if this was not enough, Musharraf followed suit. We must resolve to adopt the vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Pakistan was created through a political struggle to be a modern democratic welfare state with tolerance for dissent and not a country hostage to extremists of all shades, which is a legacy of Zia. The blood of our soldiers should never be spilled in such proxy misadventures.

Ali Malik Tariq

Lahore