I'm moved to read in The
Indian Express that the pilot of a Pakistani fighter jet, which shot down
a civilian aircraft during 1965 war with the then CM of Gujrat, Balwantrai
Mehta, apologised to the daughter of IAF pilot Jahangir Engineer. Soldiers are
also human beings with same emotions and sensibilities. ' They too feel and
even cry after killing their 'enemies' , wrote British military historian
Jeremy Black. And here in this case, the slain ones weren't even 'enemies'.
They were civilians, caught in the vortex of war to die. In Robert
Browning's famous poem 'News from Ghent to Aix', Napoleon Bonaparte cried
on the battlefield when the young messenger broke the news and died. I remember
reading an article in Pakistan's English daily 'The Nation'.

A retired Pakistani Air Commodore Shaadaab
Mansoor, brother of slain Sq. Leader Imroz Mansoor, who shot
down the aircraft of the very brave Nirmaljit Singh Sekho in 1971 war, wrote
that, " the three fighter pilots of PAF must have doffed their hats to the
intrepid Sekho before joining him to their final journey together, where
there's no enmity for anyone, not even for those who killed you."
It's been written very extensively that the
Enola Gay, B-52 aircraft pilot who bombarded Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6
and 9 respectively, died unrepentent. This is not true. He became demented and
admitted to having committed a blunder by eliminating so many innocent
lives. Nightmares of those heart-wrenching images plagued him till he
died. We're all humans and despite our projected ruthlessness and
insensitivity, we get perturbed by death and loss of human lives.

When Babar, who called
himself a ' lifelong warrior forever on horseback' in his
autobiography Tuzuk-e-Babri, almost fainted when Ibrahim Lodhi's
decapitated head was brought before him in the first battle of Panipat
in 1526. " I still can't forget that blood-oozing
dismembered head of Lodhi. I ask myself, is an empire greater than a
person's life? " I'm happy that Qais Hussain, the PAF fighter
pilot, wrote to the daughter of Engineer after close to a half century. And I'm
sure, the lady has forgiven the man who'd orders from higher officials of PAF
to shoot the plane down.
A very senior Pakistani Army
officer of Lt. General rank, wrote in The Muslim after the death of
PVC Arun Khetarpal, who died in 1971 War soon after getting
commission, ' Why young men are thrown into the furnace of war to be roasted
alive? Sad, very sad..." Humanity's still alive because man
has not yet become so insensate even if he happens to be a hardcore
soldier, trained to kill his enemies at the drop of a hat and the
slightest provocation. To quote Ahmad Faraz, " Fauji ke seene
mein bhi hota hai dil/ Nam hoti hain ankhein jab ujadti hai mahfil " (Even
a slodier has a heart/ He does feel when destruction takes place).
------I'm moved to read in The
Indian Express that the pilot of a Pakistani fighter jet, which shot down
a civilian aircraft during 1965 war with the then CM of Gujrat, Balwantrai
Mehta, apologised to the daughter of IAF pilot Jahangir Engineer. Soldiers are
also human beings with same emotions and sensibilities. ' They too feel and
even cry after killing their 'enemies' , wrote British military historian
Jeremy Black. And here in this case, the slain ones weren't even 'enemies'.
They were civilians, caught in the vortex of war to die. In Robert
Browning's famous poem 'News from Ghent to Aix', Napoleon Bonaparte cried
on the battlefield when the young messenger broke the news and died. I remember
reading an article in Pakistan's English daily 'The Nation'.
A retired Pakistani Air Commodore Shaadaab
Mansoor, brother of slain Sq. Leader Imroz Mansoor, who shot
down the aircraft of the very brave Nirmaljit Singh Sekho in 1971 war, wrote
that, " the three fighter pilots of PAF must have doffed their hats to the
intrepid Sekho before joining him to their final journey together, where
there's no enmity for anyone, not even for those who killed you."
It's been written very extensively that the
Enola Gay, B-52 aircraft pilot who bombarded Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6
and 9 respectively, died unrepentent. This is not true. He became demented and
admitted to having committed a blunder by eliminating so many innocent
lives. Nightmares of those heart-wrenching images plagued him till he
died. We're all humans and despite our projected ruthlessness and
insensitivity, we get perturbed by death and loss of human lives.
When Babar, who called
himself a ' lifelong warrior forever on horseback' in his
autobiography Tuzuk-e-Babri, almost fainted when Ibrahim Lodhi's
decapitated head was brought before him in the first battle of Panipat
in 1526. " I still can't forget that blood-oozing
dismembered head of Lodhi. I ask myself, is an empire greater than a
person's life? " I'm happy that Qais Hussain, the PAF fighter
pilot, wrote to the daughter of Engineer after close to a half century. And I'm
sure, the lady has forgiven the man who'd orders from higher officials of PAF
to shoot the plane down.
A very senior Pakistani Army
officer of Lt. General rank, wrote in The Muslim after the death of
PVC Arun Khetarpal, who died in 1971 War soon after getting
commission, ' Why young men are thrown into the furnace of war to be roasted
alive? Sad, very sad..." Humanity's still alive because man
has not yet become so insensate even if he happens to be a hardcore
soldier, trained to kill his enemies at the drop of a hat and the
slightest provocation. To quote Ahmad Faraz, " Fauji ke seene
mein bhi hota hai dil/ Nam hoti hain ankhein jab ujadti hai mahfil " (Even
a slodier has a heart/ He does feel when destruction takes place).
----Sumit Paul