On August 17, Jamat-e-Islami (JI) observed the death anniversary of military dictator Zia-ul-Haq by misrepresenting it as ‘Gaza Day’. Pakistanis are justified to ask this religious-politico party if they had observed a day for their own 50,000 martyred civilian and military personnel, killed by terrorists in the past decade. I am sure that JI can never denounce the terrorists; on the contrary they have been calling them ‘our brothers’ and martyrs while rejecting the sacrifices made by the Pakistan army.
As JI’s counterparts were busy holding Azadi March in Islamabad, they chose to hold its ‘Gaza March’ in Karachi, by closing all the main highways and creating complete chaos in the city. While watching the March’s live reports on TV, I felt disgusted to see a 4-year old innocent boy wearing a (most probably) fake suicide jacket. Both the boy and his proud father were making victory signs while receiving loud applause from the mob. I don’t know what sort of message JI wants to convey to the outside world? Are we so cruel and heartless that we feel no shame in putting a suicide vest on a small kid? It’s obvious that Pakistanis can’t help their Palestinian brothers and sisters, which somehow means that this child would be a future suicide bomber in Pakistan? Why are they allowed to show this kind of defiance when Zarb-e-Azb is going on to eliminate terrorists from our country?
MASOOD KHAN,
Jubail, August 21.