Editorial: Murdering a Messiah
It is not an ordinary murder. He was a healer of the children. He was the first Child Specialist belonging to the deprived Gilgit – Baltistan. He must have burnt his nights to reach at this position of distinction. We all know what it means to burn the nights and, thus, we all are enraged. We condemn the brutal, the tragic, and the heinous crime against the children of Gilgit – Baltistan and their messiah, in the strongest of terms.
Dr Agha Jan enjoyed a position in the society that isn’t paralleled by many others. It isn’t just rhetoric. It was proven by the thousands of people who participated in his funeral prayers in Gilgit and Ali Abad, the thousands who protested in Hunza and Gilgit city against his tragic death, the hundreds of thousands who were shocked but didn’t join the protestors and all those who felt that an irreparable damage had been caused to our society. It was some sort of a ‘pleasure in disguise’ to see the entire Gilgit – Baltistan condemning the criminals and demanding justice for the doctor, his family, his patients and his friends. It is a manifestation of our humanistic attributes.
The death is also a wake up call for the entire society. It shows that we, as a society, have constanly failed to develop tolerant, peaceful and considerate citizens. Every week there is one or two reports in the region’s press about brutal murders on one count or the other. An analysis of these murders shows that intolerance, complicated by the evil of feudal vendetta, is the main factor in the background. Of course there are sectarian killings but the number of deaths that are non-sectarian in nature are much more and consisent, relatively.
The noble Islamic principles of fortitude and forgiving are there to guide us but we unfortunately, despite of showcasing a noisy “Islamic” outlook, are not eager to follow the principles that were dear to the Prophets, the Caliphs and the Imams. It is a responsibility of the society’s elders, the religious scholars, the non-religious members of civil society and everyone else concerned about the society to preach tolerance, to persuade people to shun militancy and help them in the process by giving alternative means of dispute resolution. At times people resort to ‘justice dispensation’ just because they either don’t trust the statutory organs responsible for delivering justice or because these cases are too expensive in terms of time and money.
Since the killer of the late doctor has been arrested by the police, within half an hour of the murder, we hope that justice will prevail. In the meantime we think that now the people of Gilgit-Baltistan shall stay calm and allow time and space for the courts and other related agencies to dispense justice. (Noor_.)
……may God keep his soul at rest n eternal peace…it is really pinching moments for me coz Dr. Aga sahab waz one of the closest friend of ma unlcle….
i dont know why our educated n proffisional youths are targeted by miscreants n those who dont want the prosperity n development of our areas…
………………GOD BLESS ALL F US……………….
The loss is irrepairable and would take a very long time to be replace ans reinstated .
We can do nothing but can just pray for the eternal peace of the soul.
Such kind of unethical amd immoral acts must be stronly condemned and must be punished as to eradicate any kind of such evils prevailing in the society.
It shows that still the narrowness and crual nature is persistent and alot of effort is needed to educate the conservative emotional fools about the humanity. The inhuman attitude must strongly be suppressed by means of intellectual treatment.
I am really schoked by hearing about the incident.We need not to be emotional fools rather be emotionally intelligent to cope any kind of such situations.
This is a very good tribute to Dr Agha Jan. There is nothing we can add more.
Like many other professionals in Gilgit, he was our kids’ doctor, and hence I knew him for the last 8 years, as we took our children to him- on and off. He was humble, caring and calm. I noticed the rush at his clinic from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. at an average 50 and above, such a diverse people ranging from Gilgit, Chilas, Nagar, Ghizer to Hunza, Gojal in the queue with their kids.
Children liked his jokes and enjoyed his questions and examination. I noticed he will always remember kids by their name and address them by their names as they approach his desk.
When my kids, 8 years old Mazdak and other 3 years old Sarmad, heard of this tragedy they could not believe this news; ‘how come he is dead! he was a doctor, he could have saved his life’!, said my elder son.
My younger son was so shocked, he asked at home to call me on the phone today in the morning and said; ‘Papa, some bad boys have killed Dr Agh-Jan, the one who used to give me medicine’, I said, ‘yes beta i heard this, what can we do, this is very bad?, He said, ‘go and ask the police to punch the bad boy’! I said ok, I’ll do that.
His final question was ‘who is going to give me medicine now’??
May God rest his soul in peace, and give his family and friends the strength to pass the days of mourning in tranquality.
Amin Beg