Remembrance

A hundred years ago, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand had started a war between Russia and Austria-Hungary, which soon engulfed most of the world. Even distant India, Australia and the United States — initially so removed from the main theatre of war — were roped into the crisis. The war had taken four years and its duration, scale and attrition, shocked the whole world. For Europe, the war brought the greatest amount of death and destruction since the Middle Ages, and cries of ‘never again’, were soon heard. Of course, within two decades, Europe was again in the throes of yet another world war, but that is another story.

In Britain, the First World War shocked as well as united the whole country. Even today, the main event at which all the war dead (from any war) are remembered is held on Remembrance Sunday — the Sunday nearest to November 11. Even though the Second World War was, in some ways, more horrific and certainly longer, the trauma and subsequent changes brought about by the First World War left a lasting impact.



In Pakistan, too, Remembrance Sunday was observed in the first couple of decades after independence, but after the 1965 war with India, this observation fell by the wayside and September 6 began to be observed as Defence Day. While there is no harm in commemorating the 1965 war, the discontinuation of Remembrance Day observation is a loss. It is a loss because, first, Remembrance Day was a day of prayer for the souls of those killed (both military and civilian) in wars. Praying for the dead is a good deed in Islam, as well as in other religions, and a commendable act. Secondly, Remembrance Day was a reflection on the principles for which our military servicemen and women died. In a country, it is positive to have some days on which the principles — either founding or later agreed — are reflected upon. Doing so, not only makes us realise that the sacrifice of the dead was for a purpose, but also that we must still strive to observe and achieve those ideals. We talk about our founder, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, all the time and even mention the principles he wanted to establish Pakistan on, but do we ever take any concrete measures to actualise those principles? Thirdly, Remembrance Day was a day where war was not glorified but remembered as a terrible calamity which, if possible, should not be repeated. It was a day when people were reminded how much war destroys and how little it builds, and that unless it is the last resort, it should not be embarked upon.

Pakistan today is in the midst of a virtual war. There is war with terrorists, within and outside the country, our relations with our neighbours (except China) are not friendly, and the country has severe political and economic tensions. It is also a country where the smallest of issues can flare up tensions and lead to violence. Mobs running amok, people being lynched and brutally murdered, random shooting incidents are nearly an everyday occurrence. Is this the life we really want to live, I wonder?

Today, as we remember the end of the First World War, let us reflect on what war and violence does to us, our people, our country and resolve, and act, to do everything we can to prevent such a calamity. Our war dead — be it in the first or second world wars, the 1948, 1965 and 1971 wars — gave their lives so that we might live the ‘good life’. Let us make sure that their sacrifices were not in vain.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2014.

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