Bravery or stupidity
August 21, 2013
The fairness of the mind of the Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan should be appreciated who boldly confessed the responsibility of what had happened at the Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad when an armed man, Sikandar, held the capital city his hostage under the full glare of media which was also watched by the people around the world.
It also triggered debate in the country whether the action of Zamurrad Khan was bravery or stupidity. He tried to overpower the armed man at his own leading to the drop scene within seconds and the nation took the sigh of relief which was agonizingly on tenterhooks for many hours praying for its peaceful denouement. The interior minister took strong exception to the authorities who allowed Zamurrad Khan to approach Sikandar vociferously announcing that some heads would roll before the fall of the evening. Here, the interior minister was looking for scapegoat because he should have very well stopped the officers after Nabil Gabool’s face to face earlier meeting with Sikandar that no unauthorized person should be allowed to engage Sikandar without his prior approval. Had he foreseen this Zamurrad Khan would have not taken the plunge?
There is thin difference between bravery and stupidity as is in case of pride and arrogance. But, the outcome of action puts the weight behind the judgment. If positives outweigh the negatives it is considered as bravery and if negatives outweigh the positives it is tagged as stupidity. This generalization is only applicable in case study of thin difference and not in cases when situation is strikingly analogous to inevitability in absolute terms. Act of bravery must be consistent within the prism of ‘all is well that ends well’. That is what exactly happened in Islamabad when Zamurrad Khan dared to overpower the heavily armed man at Jinnah Avenue in the federal capital leading to the end of drama within seconds. Everyone was absolutely in a state exaltation in the country thereafter.
Islamabad’s drama was a perfect allegory of thin difference as mentioned above between the stupidity and bravery. A man, Sikandar, kept the whole administration engaged for more than five hours under the full glare of media and the whole world was watching ‘Hollywood film scenes’ in the close proximity of the President House, Parliament House and the Civil Secretariat of Pakistan.’ The man was holding two automatic guns and occasionally resorted to aerial firings to intimidate the security people. His wife and two children were also with him in the car. His wife was shuttling between the police high ups and her husband seemingly in an attempt for a peaceful drop-scene. But in vain, and the film continued unabated for many hours when Zamurrad Khan, a PPP leader, dared to stage his decisive part for few seconds.
People of Pakistan right across the country were spellbound eulogizing his courage and determination to end the drama that had been casting aspersions on Pakistan as the live coverage of it was being watched around the globe. People are justified in raising their objections for the nightmarish delay of the security agencies till a politician at his own initiative took the dangerous situation in his own hands. The delay of action has cost the country heavily in terms of image of the country and also the capability of our law enforcement agencies to handle the situation that demands quick decision making mechanism and swift deployment including cordon off the area required for operation.
Interior minister’s assertion that he gave the directions that the lives of the children and lady must be ensured since Sikandar was besieged by the police, he did not mean to harm anyone and more importantly he was not linked to any terrorist organization. Interior minister’s poor judgment impeded the early drop scene of it which could have caused considerably far less damage to the country because the occurrences of such incidents in other countries are forced to logical conclusion with precision and speed. This plan of action is executed with the obvious purpose of to minimize the psychological effects on the local population as was case in Engineering College in Virginia, USA, or in a school in Russia where terrorists had kept the children hostage.
The big question is as why interior minister gave instructions to the Islamabad police of tardiness while sitting in Lahore? In such a situation, the field commander should not be dictated instead be provided with full support whatever assistance he asks for tackling the dangerous situation as it unfolds. It was therefore unfair on the part of the interior minister to hold the administration back in taking decision as the situation was likely to change so rapidly. This caused inordinate delay leading to indecisiveness of the Islamabad police.
Admittedly, Islamabad police is at fault to the extent because it failed to stop the entry of the people and the media at the site that made the situation even more difficult for the security agencies to implement their plan of action, if any. The police ironically looked clueless and was constrained of dragging the episode under the instructions of the minister interior. It is safe to presume, had the interior minister not given the instructions to the Islamabad police, they would have grabbed the armed man much earlier with similar results as emerged after the action of Zamurrad Khan. It was worth taking the calculated risk instead of allowing the situation to hang on causing heap of ignominy on the face of Law Enforcement Agencies.
The interior minister should have relied on the judgment of the IGP and SSP Islamabad instead of resorting to giving specific instructions to hold on. In such a life threatening scenario where the situation could take ugly turn so suddenly the common sense demands that the superiors should lend full authority to the field commander to take action according to his calculations at the spot. The argument of the interior minister does not hold water because the shooting of the armed man below the abdomen by police snipers could have invoked the similar response from him as was in case when Zamurrad Khan ran into him to de-capacitate him.
Zamurrad Khan did exceptionally an excellent job and those who are trying to belittle the act of his bravery have some thing seriously wrong with their sense of proportion. Under the circumstances, he was instrumental in relieving the twenty million people from the agony that was taking its toll so far as the morale of the people was concerned.
Those who are describing it as stupidity should focus on the resultant comforts to the people. They should not be carried away by the trivial consideration of party politics in this case because their trivialization will further magnify the gallantry of the hero. He did this not as a member of the party but as a true patriot who loved this country and the people.
Well done Zamurrad Khan with the advice to people, media and politicians not to follow the suit because next time negatives may outweigh positives. So resist the temptation of taking plunge because next time the man on other side may be hard-core terrorist whose ideology is death and destruction. Let the Law Enforcement Agencies undertake their responsibilities. They should be fully equipped to meet the challenges in the light of Islamabad incident.
The author is former information secretary
It also triggered debate in the country whether the action of Zamurrad Khan was bravery or stupidity. He tried to overpower the armed man at his own leading to the drop scene within seconds and the nation took the sigh of relief which was agonizingly on tenterhooks for many hours praying for its peaceful denouement. The interior minister took strong exception to the authorities who allowed Zamurrad Khan to approach Sikandar vociferously announcing that some heads would roll before the fall of the evening. Here, the interior minister was looking for scapegoat because he should have very well stopped the officers after Nabil Gabool’s face to face earlier meeting with Sikandar that no unauthorized person should be allowed to engage Sikandar without his prior approval. Had he foreseen this Zamurrad Khan would have not taken the plunge?
There is thin difference between bravery and stupidity as is in case of pride and arrogance. But, the outcome of action puts the weight behind the judgment. If positives outweigh the negatives it is considered as bravery and if negatives outweigh the positives it is tagged as stupidity. This generalization is only applicable in case study of thin difference and not in cases when situation is strikingly analogous to inevitability in absolute terms. Act of bravery must be consistent within the prism of ‘all is well that ends well’. That is what exactly happened in Islamabad when Zamurrad Khan dared to overpower the heavily armed man at Jinnah Avenue in the federal capital leading to the end of drama within seconds. Everyone was absolutely in a state exaltation in the country thereafter.
Islamabad’s drama was a perfect allegory of thin difference as mentioned above between the stupidity and bravery. A man, Sikandar, kept the whole administration engaged for more than five hours under the full glare of media and the whole world was watching ‘Hollywood film scenes’ in the close proximity of the President House, Parliament House and the Civil Secretariat of Pakistan.’ The man was holding two automatic guns and occasionally resorted to aerial firings to intimidate the security people. His wife and two children were also with him in the car. His wife was shuttling between the police high ups and her husband seemingly in an attempt for a peaceful drop-scene. But in vain, and the film continued unabated for many hours when Zamurrad Khan, a PPP leader, dared to stage his decisive part for few seconds.
People of Pakistan right across the country were spellbound eulogizing his courage and determination to end the drama that had been casting aspersions on Pakistan as the live coverage of it was being watched around the globe. People are justified in raising their objections for the nightmarish delay of the security agencies till a politician at his own initiative took the dangerous situation in his own hands. The delay of action has cost the country heavily in terms of image of the country and also the capability of our law enforcement agencies to handle the situation that demands quick decision making mechanism and swift deployment including cordon off the area required for operation.
Interior minister’s assertion that he gave the directions that the lives of the children and lady must be ensured since Sikandar was besieged by the police, he did not mean to harm anyone and more importantly he was not linked to any terrorist organization. Interior minister’s poor judgment impeded the early drop scene of it which could have caused considerably far less damage to the country because the occurrences of such incidents in other countries are forced to logical conclusion with precision and speed. This plan of action is executed with the obvious purpose of to minimize the psychological effects on the local population as was case in Engineering College in Virginia, USA, or in a school in Russia where terrorists had kept the children hostage.
The big question is as why interior minister gave instructions to the Islamabad police of tardiness while sitting in Lahore? In such a situation, the field commander should not be dictated instead be provided with full support whatever assistance he asks for tackling the dangerous situation as it unfolds. It was therefore unfair on the part of the interior minister to hold the administration back in taking decision as the situation was likely to change so rapidly. This caused inordinate delay leading to indecisiveness of the Islamabad police.
Admittedly, Islamabad police is at fault to the extent because it failed to stop the entry of the people and the media at the site that made the situation even more difficult for the security agencies to implement their plan of action, if any. The police ironically looked clueless and was constrained of dragging the episode under the instructions of the minister interior. It is safe to presume, had the interior minister not given the instructions to the Islamabad police, they would have grabbed the armed man much earlier with similar results as emerged after the action of Zamurrad Khan. It was worth taking the calculated risk instead of allowing the situation to hang on causing heap of ignominy on the face of Law Enforcement Agencies.
The interior minister should have relied on the judgment of the IGP and SSP Islamabad instead of resorting to giving specific instructions to hold on. In such a life threatening scenario where the situation could take ugly turn so suddenly the common sense demands that the superiors should lend full authority to the field commander to take action according to his calculations at the spot. The argument of the interior minister does not hold water because the shooting of the armed man below the abdomen by police snipers could have invoked the similar response from him as was in case when Zamurrad Khan ran into him to de-capacitate him.
Zamurrad Khan did exceptionally an excellent job and those who are trying to belittle the act of his bravery have some thing seriously wrong with their sense of proportion. Under the circumstances, he was instrumental in relieving the twenty million people from the agony that was taking its toll so far as the morale of the people was concerned.
Those who are describing it as stupidity should focus on the resultant comforts to the people. They should not be carried away by the trivial consideration of party politics in this case because their trivialization will further magnify the gallantry of the hero. He did this not as a member of the party but as a true patriot who loved this country and the people.
Well done Zamurrad Khan with the advice to people, media and politicians not to follow the suit because next time negatives may outweigh positives. So resist the temptation of taking plunge because next time the man on other side may be hard-core terrorist whose ideology is death and destruction. Let the Law Enforcement Agencies undertake their responsibilities. They should be fully equipped to meet the challenges in the light of Islamabad incident.
The author is former information secretary
