United we stand, divided we fall

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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In the aftermath of the NATO Air Strike, a lot activity has taken place. It all started with claims of mistaken identity, to the confusion weather the deceased soldiers were sleeping at the time of the Air Strike, to Pakistan cutting off NATO Supplies, to Pakistan boycotting the BON conference. In fact as I write there is breaking news that reads “Obama not to say sorry to Pakistan: White House”. The authenticity of the just released news however is not confirmed, but to think that the aforementioned headline is doing the rounds of all Pakistani local News Channels, it won’t be long before the authenticity of the news is confirmed.

Now before we move forward let’s get an insight into the latest developing story. According to the white house officials President Obama will not offer formal condolences — at least for now — to Pakistan for the deaths of two dozen soldiers in NATO airstrikes on a Pakistani check post in Mohmand Agency last week, overruling State Department officials who argued for such a show of remorse to help salvage America’s relationship with Pakistan.

In contrasting claims yesterday Cameron Munter, the United States ambassador to Pakistan, told a group of White House officials that a formal video statement from Obama was needed to help prevent the rapidly deteriorating relations between Islamabad and Washington. The ambassador, speaking by videoconference from Islamabad, said that anger in Pakistan had reached a fever pitch, and that the United States needed to move to defuse it as quickly as possible, the officials recounted.

Since Mr. Munter is in Islamabad he can sense the hostile environment. The Country hosts hostile emotions towards America. There are no two opinions about the fact that every single Pakistani wants to see the exit of American forces from their land. Even the most non-politically active members of the society are voicing their opinions on the latest setback between the two allies.

The local Pakistani Media has gone full throttle in condemning the attacks and slamming the Obama administration, think that if Obama was to overrule the military and apologize to Pakistan; such a step could become fodder for his Republican opponents in the presidential campaign, which according to many analysts and experts makes a lot of sense considering Obama’s weak administration has been under fire and people in U.S are not fully supporting his presidential re-election campaign.

In normal circumstances trying to digest the local Pakistani news channels on a daily basis is never a treat or a mouth watering prospect as many political figures show up and try to steal the limelight and gather cheap publicity. But the latest developments have brought back the viewers. Reason being the anchors, experts, analysts, politicians, ruling government and opposition parties are all fighting for the same cause and stand united. There is a mood of togetherness, harmony and Unity. For once nobody has their own agenda’s and the only agenda of the nation is to bring the culprits to justice. The people of Pakistan have hailed the government’s decision of giving the forces till 10 days to evacuate the Shamsi Air Base.

Another section of the media is of the opinion that these steps should have been taken much earlier, when the U.S military started using drone attacks. The same section of media thinks that having supported the U.S on War on Terror for a decade it’s time for Pakistan to stop supporting America as it’s their War and not ours. They think supporting U.S has only led to Pakistan losing their own innocent people.

Now moving on from the media, let’s put some light on the educated urban lot of Pakistan. These are the people who are considered the liberal, the open minded and the progressive people of the society. They belong to the section of the Pakistani society which believes that no matter which ever party is ruling and whatever happens makes no difference to their lives as they believe that every and any change to the system in Pakistan would not facilitate them. They are the people who prefer watching an episode of American Idol then watching a Political talk show. These are the people who look forward to elections day only because they will get a day off from work and rather than voting they prefer to sleep the day off. These are the people who are too busy to keep a track of current affairs. What has been most surprising has been the reaction from the aforementioned section of the society. From sharing music videos to Russell Peters stand up acts they have done the unthinkable by voicing their disgust on platforms like Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. They are now actively sharing articles and creating pages to condemn the latest madness by American Forces. They have put up display pictures of “SAY NO TO NATO” and “NATO NO MORE”. Students across the country from various institutes are holding peaceful rallies. For a nation whose younger generation a fortnight ago only cared about Steve Jobs and the iPhone, this has to be the start of a new era.

In such uncertain circumstances, the divided nation has found common ground and unity, something that was unimaginable a month ago. This might just be the beginning of an Era where Unity, faith and discipline form the higher law.

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