Appreciating Zamarrud Khan

Letter August 22, 2013
Those criticising Zamarrud Khan for pouncing on the gunman should be a bit more appreciative of the action he took.

LAHORE: Back in the 1940s, when Pakistan was yet to be established, in Bombay (now Mumbai), a person belonging to the Khaksar Movement attacked the Quaid-e-Azam with a knife in a public place. The Quaid, despite his advancing age and weak physique, held the attacker’s arm with great determination and courage. The man was later handed over to the police. Did the Quaid, in order to save himself from this attack, act in an unwise manner?

In 1971, a Bengali officer of the Pakistan Air Force tried to hijack an air force plane but the co-pilot, Rashid Minhas, knowing that he could get killed, tried to stop him and died in the ensuing crash. Did he act in an unwise manner?

In 1978, a PIA plane was hijacked at gunpoint. The late Air Marshal Nur Khan, who was heading the national carrier at the time, went to negotiate with the hijacker. During his talks with the hijacker, he pounced on him and grabbed him. In the scuffle that followed, the air marshal was slightly injured. Did he act unwisely? There have been many instances where lives have been either sacrificed or put at risk in order to perform duties for the country. Can we term all such acts unwise? Those who are criticising Zamarrud Khan for taking the initiative of pouncing on the gunman in Islamabad should be a bit more appreciative of the action he took, risking his own life in the process.

Anwar Khalil Sheikh

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2013.

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