Our pride should not allow us to turn a blind eye on the incompetence which has led to the PNS Mehran base incident.
KARACHI: We should be proud of the sacrifices our soldiers but our pride should not allow us to turn a blind eye on the sheer incompetence which has led to the PNS Mehran base incident. A blame game has started as to whether the air force or the navy is responsible for this lapse.
Regrettably, those at the helm, in this case the navy chief, are in a state of denial, refusing to acknowledge that something has gone terribly wrong and that security and standard operating procedures for it were woefully short. And the result is that, it seems that, individuals are being protected instead of institutions.
History repeats itself, like the end to the Ottoman empire or the Mughal empire and recently the fall of Dhaka. The same mindset and attitude which was responsible for such declines can be witnessed now in Pakistan.
Omair Gohar Shafiq
Published in The Express Tribune, May 27th, 2011.
