I did not know that there was no difference between a spy and a terrorist, but the recent reports in media, on Sarabjeet Singh’s death, revealed that a spy could be called a terrorist and a terrorist could be called a spy. According to my knowledge, a spy is a person who secretly collects and reports information about an enemy or competitor. A spy is usually employed by a state or institution to obtain secret information from rival countries, organizations and companies. In short, his sole responsibility is to keep secret watch on others and he is never involved in any act of terrorism. A terrorist is one who kills a number of innocent people in an act of revenge, for a belief, sometimes a spy can turn into a terrorist but a terrorist is never a spy.
Unfortunately in India, a terrorist is treated the same way as a spy. A few years back, we had Raymond Davis as a visitor who was apparently a spy, but later on, by killing three Pakistanis, he proved that he was a terrorist as well. Same is the case with Sarabjeet Singh. The Indian hi-ups, as well as the Indian media claim that he was a spy, but the honuorable Supreme Court of Pakistan said he was a terrorist, directly involved in a series of bomb attacks in Lahore and Faisalabad that killed 14 innocent Pakistanis, in 1990. What people all over the world must understand is that a spy can be given a honuorable funeral, as he is working to get information for his country (though not considered honuorable) but a terrorist, killer cannot be given state honour, as this will give a green flag to all the terrorists. Though the law has same punishment for both crimes, the death penalty!
PROFESSOR ALI SUKHANVER,
Multan, May 8.