Op-Ed:With due apology

by Aejaz Karim

Mr. Ali, thanks for your comments and nice words. You are right in saying that media is a powerful tool to influence the public opinion and should be used wisely. Not only myself but the regular readers of PT believe that PT is fulfilling this mandate very well. I must say we are proud of this effort of educated and enlightened youth. PT’s news & researches are based on facts and figures, not on town-talks. Neither it distorts any fact like other local and national media, nor plays with the sentiments and aspirations of its readers. PT respects and welcomes the ideas and comments from the readers, including its critics.

We realize and respect the contribution of the Chief Executive of NALA in retaining the dry port in Hunza, but no one will appreciate what so ever happened under their control. PT including other national media is full of the facts and figures about the mishaps and corruption there. Chief Executive must have had played a role to encounter the strong lobby’s intention to establish the DP somewhere else, but there were another forces and realities that played the key role to retain this project in Sost.

The people of Hunza are not fighting against the legality of the previous cabinet, but they are against their illegal role, plunder and other misbehaves.

You rightly talked about the bigger picture and certain bigger forces PT is ignoring or has ignored, but a thorough and thoughtful study of the current situation tells another story. So far the threat to our existence is concern I must say the people of Hunza are no more voiceless and oppressed. They have their presence in each and every walk of life, institutions and organization not only in Pakistan but in the entire world. They have better understanding of the future needs of Hunza; they are equipped with the best possible skill and knowledge required to defend their existence, identity and future. They can realize the situation and devise better strategy for their protection, because they love Hunza and its people more than the unseen gods.

We respect our elders, we owe great respect to our heritage, but the story here is very different one. We are proud of our tradition of progress, we are proud of our tradition of brotherhood, we are proud of our tradition of hard work, we are proud of our tradition of helping each other, we are proud of our tradition of peace and tranquility, we are proud of our tradition of love and care, we are indeed proud of all those beautiful traditions which distinct us from the rest of the world. But my dear brother we don’t appreciate a tradition of exploitation which is not ours. We salute our elders who sacrifice their pleasure and comfort to get us a bright future; who enabled us to read and write; who enabled us to distinguish between right and wrong. We salute them all who build such a strong structure of civil society organizations in our area. We are proud of all those who slit the mountain rocks to get water from the frozen glaciers to transform the barren lands into beautiful valleys. We are proud of each and every Hunzakuts who fought injustice and exploitation in its every forms and manifestations…

Pamir Times

administrator

Pamir Times is the pioneering community news and views portal of Gilgit – Baltistan, Kohistan, Chitral and the surrounding mountain areas. It is a voluntary, not-for-profit, non-partisan and independent venture initiated by the youth.

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