Who is Mr Zamrud Khan?
Mr Khan should at the least be charged for placing public security in jeopardy.
The writer is a freelance writer and translator
Like you and I, Mr Khan is a civilian. He is a lawyer by profession, and has been a member of parliament in the past. He is neither a member of any security agency, nor a specialist in the field of anti-terrorism, combat or even psychology.
While watching events unfold on television at home, on August 15, Mr Khan was horrified (like you and I) and felt that he had to do something about the situation. So he upped and arrived on the scene and asked to be allowed to speak to the terrorist — and incredibly, amazingly, he was allowed to do so.
Mr Zamrud Khan walked on centre stage, passed his hand paternally on Sikandar’s wife’s head, shook hands with his children, then Sikandar himself and then leapt onto that heavily armed man, slipped and fell, and lunged for his legs. Sikandar jumped backwards, fell down, fired his guns and was fired at before he was eventually, mercifully captured.
Mr Zamrud Khan, when interviewed after the event said that his ‘ghairat’ did not allow him to sit back and do nothing in the situation.
Pakistan’s ghairat brigade has to be its most bay-ghairat component. It uses the word honour or ghairat to commit the most blasphemous acts. Maybe it was a similarly flawed concept of ghairat that prompted the home minister to interfere with the job of the security agencies; something he apparently does quite regularly, ordering them to “take the man alive”. I believe that SSP Operations Dr Rizwan is actually the man to be commended because he was doing the best he was allowed to do, under the given circumstances — determinedly calm, trying to persuade Sikandar to lay down his arms.
If Mr Khan’s ghairat prompted him to do what he did, then there are several things that I, too, would like to do and the precedent, set by Mr Khan, must allow me to do them. Please note that it is nothing but the ghairat of every militant that prompts him to circumvent the law and take it into his hands, and bomb/shoot/kill their way towards the acceptance of his demands. No person commits such acts without some conviction, however flawed, and it is only the law that prevents (or should prevent) individuals from taking matters into our own hands.
It was not Mr Khan’s job to do what he did and he should not have been allowed to do it. No matter how dedicated he may be to public interest. He was lucky his actions did not cause serious harm.
It is Pakistan’s unexpectedness, not its capability that makes its enemies eye the country with caution. There is no saying how Pakistan’s cricket team will play, how the Pakistan army is likely to respond and now we have a civilian bumbling onto the scene, with permission and leaving wreathed in laurels? In my opinion, the only reason he cannot be arrested and charged with posing a potential threat to security, is that he had prior permission from the police to do what he did. Mr Khan should, at the very least, be barred from public office for life and be charged with placing public security in jeopardy.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2013.
While watching events unfold on television at home, on August 15, Mr Khan was horrified (like you and I) and felt that he had to do something about the situation. So he upped and arrived on the scene and asked to be allowed to speak to the terrorist — and incredibly, amazingly, he was allowed to do so.
Mr Zamrud Khan walked on centre stage, passed his hand paternally on Sikandar’s wife’s head, shook hands with his children, then Sikandar himself and then leapt onto that heavily armed man, slipped and fell, and lunged for his legs. Sikandar jumped backwards, fell down, fired his guns and was fired at before he was eventually, mercifully captured.
Mr Zamrud Khan, when interviewed after the event said that his ‘ghairat’ did not allow him to sit back and do nothing in the situation.
Pakistan’s ghairat brigade has to be its most bay-ghairat component. It uses the word honour or ghairat to commit the most blasphemous acts. Maybe it was a similarly flawed concept of ghairat that prompted the home minister to interfere with the job of the security agencies; something he apparently does quite regularly, ordering them to “take the man alive”. I believe that SSP Operations Dr Rizwan is actually the man to be commended because he was doing the best he was allowed to do, under the given circumstances — determinedly calm, trying to persuade Sikandar to lay down his arms.
If Mr Khan’s ghairat prompted him to do what he did, then there are several things that I, too, would like to do and the precedent, set by Mr Khan, must allow me to do them. Please note that it is nothing but the ghairat of every militant that prompts him to circumvent the law and take it into his hands, and bomb/shoot/kill their way towards the acceptance of his demands. No person commits such acts without some conviction, however flawed, and it is only the law that prevents (or should prevent) individuals from taking matters into our own hands.
It was not Mr Khan’s job to do what he did and he should not have been allowed to do it. No matter how dedicated he may be to public interest. He was lucky his actions did not cause serious harm.
It is Pakistan’s unexpectedness, not its capability that makes its enemies eye the country with caution. There is no saying how Pakistan’s cricket team will play, how the Pakistan army is likely to respond and now we have a civilian bumbling onto the scene, with permission and leaving wreathed in laurels? In my opinion, the only reason he cannot be arrested and charged with posing a potential threat to security, is that he had prior permission from the police to do what he did. Mr Khan should, at the very least, be barred from public office for life and be charged with placing public security in jeopardy.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 18th, 2013.