Thank you, ASF

Exactly one year ago on this day, I witnessed a heroic combat of our security forces with terrorists at the Karachi airport. It was the brave resistance given by the Airports Security Force (ASF) that hundreds of other passengers and I are alive today. On the night of June 8 last year our flight arrived in Karachi at around 11pm. While coming out of the aircraft I overheard the bridge operators saying that there was some shooting going on. By the time I reached the arrival lounge word had spread that the airport was under attack.
The armed men of the ASF came in running along with their sniper rifles and took positions on predetermined locations. No discussions, no questions. They did it so perfectly that they seemed to have rehearsed it hundred times before. The ASF men politely guided us to a safer location and told us that the airport was being locked down. Nobody would be allowed to enter or leave for the time being and that we were safer at that location. By around midnight we were told that it was all clear and we could go home. The next day I learned that the terrorists who had attacked the airport were spotted and killed before they could breach the safety line drawn by the ASF. Twelve brave men of the ASF gave their lives so that hundreds of other passengers and I could live.
Zahoor Uddin Bashir
Karachi