Pakistani student Samad Khurram’s refusal to accept an award from the American Ambassador at his Roots College’s ceremony in Islamabad is in stark contrast to the slavish behaviour of Pakistan’s rulers. His complete blanking of the ambassador had left her initially speechless and bewildered as she heard Mr. Khurram’s brief statement at he podium.
His point - short and succinct - was that he would not accept an award from a country that is bombing his land and killing its soldiers and people. Fairly strong argument, and the ambassador’s reply was that we should have dialogue in order to remove mistrust and misunderstanding between the Pakistani people and Americans. What poppycock!
Samad’s words echoed the sentiments of millions of Pakistanis and many more from the Muslim world that US military aggression on Muslim land is very deplorable and that they want them to stop interfering in their countries. It is also an example of how honourably he showed his protest to the representative of an aggressor country.
At a time when the US are posturing to have incursions in Pakistan, its rulers and military generals are giving a green light for Americans to come and do their business without resistance. The chairman of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, made an emergency visit to Pakistan on 12th July. Within a few hours he had met President Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Gilani, Army Chief, Interior Advisor, Asfandyar Wali, Mahmood Achakzai and Afrasiab Khattak.
After the meeting, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, commented: “There are a lot of foreigners in the tribal area that may result in a 9/11 style attack.” These acts clearly indicate that in case of an American attack on Pakistan neither the government nor the army is in any mood to resist. In actual fact the statement above suggests they are creating public opinion for the attack!
I am happy that at least from the next generation of Muslims in Pakistan there are people like Samad Khurram, and I make du’a that more people will have the courage to account their rulers for the travesty they are causing in their countries.
Let the Hadith below be an inspiration for all:
The Messenger of Allah (saw) said: ‘The master of martyrs is Hamza bin Abdul-Muttalib and a man who stood to an oppressor ruler where he ordered him and forbade him so he (the ruler) killed him.’ [Abu Dawud]
July 17th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Samad also supports the reinstatement of the 60 unconstitutionally removed Judges. What is your take on their reinstatement? It could be argued, as Musharaf has, that these judges and the journalists destabalise Pakistan at a time when it needs security more than ever. All decisions are subject to a cost, and replacing leadership or even an entire branch of government will naturally lead to a loss that the people of Pakistan cannot afford to take.
It isn’t simply a matter of what the Pakistani people want, because they could easily be wrong, as we find in many parts of the rest of the Muslim world. Even in Pakistan, we find polarization of people for and against Islamic parties and Islamic law.
July 17th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Thanks for you comment bro,
In the blog i just wanted to highlight the action of Samad rather then the individual’s opinions. I think it is pretty simple in the case of what he spoke for which is against US interests and for Pakistan’s interest.
With regards to the cost of the Pakistani people that they are paying with their blood, sweat and tears… a branch of the government is not what is at stake here….actually the whole system needs to be replaced or else you will be witnessing more carnage in the coming months and years if Pakistan continues to follow its current course.
Which leads on nicely to my final point which is related to your last statement about people in Pakistan being polarised for Islam or Secularism. It is safe to assume that the 140 million Pakistanis of whom majority are Muslim are about 90% of the population. Of that section about 5% are the elites of Pakistan who are for secularism and against Islamic Law, the rest are all for it and yearn for it. No need to state statistics or evidences. Its not the people that are wrong its the leaders that are WRONG!