KARACHI:
Naveed Alam, a member of Pakistan’s winning team in the 1994 Hockey World Cup, recently passed away while battling cancer. After repeated visits to Shaukat Khanum Memorial hospital, he was diagnosed with blood cancer on July 7, 2021. Following a chemotherapy session in Lahore, his condition rapidly deteriorated and he was immediately moved to a hospital where he passed away at the age of 47.
A few days prior, former secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) said, “Naveed needs financial and moral help from the government and the PHF and from other hockey stakeholders as anyone can face these kinds of hardship in life.”
How pathetic are we as a nation that we somehow find ways to spread hatred rather than cherish and help the few heroes that are still among us. Our heroes, who have managed to remain patriotic in the face of adversity, are dying and we have failed to acknowledge them and give them the respect they deserve. Have we forgotten that our national sport is hockey and that Naveed Alam was a world-renowned sportsman who wore the Pakistani jersey and won us the Word Cup?
Despite knowing that death is inevitable, such news always weighs down one’s soul. It is truly a sad moment that should urge all of us to ponder over what it means to be Pakistani.
Hakeem Shah
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2021.
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