I was there during this sordid affair. Whilst i was just the guy in the ambulance ferrying injured soldiers and civilians to PIMS and Mayo, i can assure you that every soldier there had the dread of moving against the mosque.
Anyone who was not there is not qualified to judge the frustration in the eyes of the security forces and administration. It is easy to write off Musharraf as a coward, a failure, a mass murderer.
But I can tell you that the government tried everything, no Muslim son or daughter would attack a mosque unless there was no other possible solution. I hope people do not underestimate the consequences for the motherland had the government conceded to their demands.
Had the Lal-Masjid lunatics succeeded in enforcing their authority, they would have expanded their own brand of Islam throughout the capital, as they had attempted previously. We all know there are those in parliament and senate who if given the chance would welcome a Taliban administration with open arms.
The decision that was forced upon the administration at the time was a true test of will and resolve. Had the government or military faltered, you, me our families would have lost the freedoms our forefathers fought so hard to achieve.
To me nothing is more important than our nation, Pakistan. We only have to look at Palestine to see how blessed we are. These thugs who murder fellow Muslims in the name of Islam are no better than any other criminal, yet the feel justified in painting themselves with an aura of a righteous crusader.
Nay, Nay
. These very people would deny you, me, our sons and daughters the very rights and benefits we enjoy today. For them women are mere chattels, I would rather die then see my daughter live in a Pakistan where such is the treatment of women.
Need I mention what could have happened to our beloved motherland had the west felt that a fundamentalist group were about to mount a coup on the Capital itself?
Can you imagine that scenario?
The administration at the time did, they had to weigh all these possible scenarios, could you have made that choice? I know I could not. So lets give credit where it is due, lets not let all those noble souls who went far beyond the call of duty, to overcome their apprehensions, to subdue their self and to give their all, for the sake of the nations future, our future.
I want to close with the words of our Founding Father:
"No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.
Quaid-e-Azam - Speech at a meeting of the Muslim University Union, Aligarh
March 10, 1944
. Musharraf should send in his armed commandos.
