Star and Crescent

Star and Crescent
How God Made it. I took this photograph at Sawan Gas Fields in NARA Desert in 2007. Long Live Pakistan.

The Peak

The Peak
Nibbling the third highest summit of Pakistan as Felix Oppenhiem took this photo enroute to Gashebrum 1 (8068 M) in August 1982.

Inside a snow cave at above 7000 M

Inside a snow cave at above 7000 M
Mother Nature. The cave offered the only protection against a blizzard of blinding snow. This was Eid ur Fitr 1982.

The old course of the Great Nara River

The old course of the Great Nara River
Challenge Me! The shape of the stones suggests that the lost river called Sarasvati in Vedas and Nara/Reini and Hakra in folklore, once flowed here.

Loneliness

Loneliness
On the highest sand dune summit of Pakistan in NARA Desert April 2005.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Pakistan's unlikely Hero

He is seen most of the time walking in the rubble and talking to people. The huge loss to his business after the blast is not visible on his face. But mention the casualties and reaction comes written all over his face.

The man is shaken at the loss of life and particularly of his employees who he says fought valiantly against terrorism. Though he does not say in as many words, it soon becomes visible that he was and remains dismayed with the state cooperation and response for security. He mentions the lack of fire fighting equipment for high rise buildings and insensitivity of the government to deploy helicopters for rescue. He laments the lack of space and refusal of the government to sell him the adjacent land so crucial for safety and emergency exits. He appears every inch a frustrated man not for the material loss, but for the innocent lives that could have been saved and a tragedy that could have been avoided.
Then suddenly his face lights up! ‘We are not defeated’. ‘Nothing can destroy us’. ‘I invite you in four months time to come and have tea with me in Marriot’. He remembers his brave security guards with love and affection like his own children who are no more. ‘I will look after them’. ‘They were my sons’. ‘I will take care of their children’. Then he moves away to cheer his employees clearing the rubble, like a weary military commander who has just fought a battle and is gearing up for another. The message is clear. Marriot is destroyed, but Marriot cannot be eliminated. The spirit of Marriot will live and so will the unscarred face of Pakistan.I am told that the day after the blast, he visited every wounded in the hospital. His aides carried bags full of money that he distributed generously amongst the victims of the tragedy. He acted like a grieved father and the pain was all over him.In the course of this entire episode, he appears the only man who stands high and resolute.
Is Sadruddin Hashwani the unlikely hero of Pakistan?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Most definitely a man who has the ability and sense to feel the pain of victims is a hero in this world and in the hereafter too, inshaAllah.

Only if there were more individuals of such nature our homeland would be a lot better place.

May Allah SWT bless all those affected by this disastrous incident which took so many innocent lives and marred the lives of so many others in many ways,and, reveal the faces of those enemies of the homeland of
Muslims, ameen.

JazakAllah