THE eleven day conflict in Gaza took a huge toll on human lives—both Israeli and Palestinian. The breaking point was a blast in Gaza’s Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. Health officials and aid groups warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip as the death toll from Israel’s bombardment rises and key supplies are dwindling. There are diverse narratives on the source of the hospital attack. Palestinian officials claim that an Israeli air attack killed nearly 500 people, while Israel has attributed the explosion to a misfired rocket launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) armed group—an allegation denied by PIJ.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden, the first US President to visit the Israeli war zone during a conflict, reaffirmed the US’s unequivocal support for Israel. He also reached out to President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and reiterated that the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. Egypt has managed to broker a ceasefire but will it be lasting and will the blockaded and stranded residents of Gaza see relief from hunger, thirst and disease? In the aftermath of the US President’s visit to Tel Aviv, a deal to send aid through the Rafah crossing between Sinai and Gaza was still being hammered out.
Earlier, the United States said agreement was reached for the passage of the first 20 trucks, but UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who flew to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Friday in a push to get aid flowing into Gaza, discovered that it was unclear when delivery of relief material stockpiled in Egypt would start. UN officials desire the delivery of aid to be carried out at scale and in a sustained way. Before the current conflict between Israel and Hamas, about 450 aid trucks were arriving in Gaza daily. Most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people depend on humanitarian aid, which has been under a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas took control of the enclave in 2007.
Let’s look inwards—Pakistanis, generally in the forefront to raise their voice to condemn every act of aggression against Muslims, Palestinians, Kashmiris or Afghans, who were targets of invasions by first the USSR and later the US-led NATO troops—have once again raised a hue and cry against Israeli aggression in Gaza. Volatile statements by prayer leaders, spewing venom against Israel from their pulpits during Friday sermons; banners decrying Israel; rallies and seminars to express solidarity with the Palestinians are the order of the day. NGOs, human rights activists and even ordinary Pakistanis are donating generously, collecting relief goods to send them to the hapless Gazans.
All humanitarian activities are welcome yet a reality check is required. Since Hamas’s attack inside Israel on October 7, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 3,400 Palestinians in Gaza, while in Israel the death toll due to the assaults by Hamas has topped 1,400. Every human life lost is cause for grief and must be lamented. However, as far as Pakistan is concerned, there appears to be a dichotomy. While we beat our chests and declare sorrow for the loss of precious lives elsewhere, we tend to remain oblivious to our own losses.
When the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistanis volunteered to fight alongside the Mujahideen and the Muslim volunteers from various parts of the world, under the umbrella of Al-Qaeda, established to overthrow the Red Army. Al-Qaeda was trained, supplied weapons, funds and jihadi literature by the US, Pakistan and numerous others. The Soviets were ultimately forced to withdraw after a decade but the era exposed Pakistan to terror attacks executed by the KGB and Khad, the Afghan intelligence agency. There is no accurate record of the precious lives lost during the decade long Afghan War.
Unfortunately, Afghanistan and Pakistan’s woes did not end there as an internecine tribal war erupted in Afghanistan to gain control of the war-ravaged country. The Taliban wrested control of most of Afghanistan but the Al-Qaeda morphed into Frankenstein, wreaking havoc globally. 9/11 unleashed a new wave of terror. US-led NATO forces launched massive attacks on Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda and Taliban were beaten but not decimated. Pakistan, which chose to support the US and NATO, now became a target. A new monster was released, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)—which considered Pakistan and its Army as the enemy since they sided with the US—and launched terror attacks on a massive scale.
Pakistan has fought back and managed to subdue the terror attacks but the TTP, which has its roots in Pakistan and comprises most of the original Mujahideen trained in guerrilla war by the elite forces of the US and Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and has allied itself with the Daesh, continues to attack with impunity. Adding to Pakistan’s woes, the US tracked and eliminated Osama bin Laden, the Al-Qaeda leader in his hideout in Abbottabad in Pakistan in 2011. Various studies by numerous think tanks and universities the world over, provide casualty figures. The South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP) quotes over 100,000 lives lost since 2001. This number has been endorsed by the Pakistan government. Owing to Pakistani sympathizers of Al-Qaeda and TTP, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) relegated Pakistan to its Grey List and threatened dire consequences.
The withdrawal of the US and NATO forces from Afghanistan in 2021, brought the Taliban back in control but also provided safe haven to the TTP, which launched a new wave of terror, causing tremendous losses. According to Islamabad-based independent Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), Pakistan’s security forces have lost more than 700 security forces and civilians in the first nine months of 2023. The sad part is that while we lament the loss of equally precious lives in distant land, we fail to take cognizance of our own mounting tally of lives lost. There are no rallies, no seminars nor even demands from the concerned organs of the government to take steps to stop the carnage. Are the hundred thousand Pakistani lives lost, the children of a lesser God?
—The writer is a Retired Group Captain of PAF, who has written several books on China.
Email: sultanm.hali@gmail.com
