Just like the earthquake in 2005, the recent air crash in Islamabad hit home as it happened in the same hills which I had grown up looking at. I could also relate to the crash as I land at the same airport every time I go to Islamabad. I was fortunate to read
a piece by a leading columnist from
Pakistan named Javed Chaudhry ( of Express News) who shared some pointed reminders and reflections about the crash. The original article was in urdu but I have made a (half-decent) attempt at translating this article as I thought it may be of some benefit to non-urdu readers.
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Adnan's seat was confirmed but he was getting late because of traffic and he knew that the check-in counter was about to close. His bag was in his hand as heran briskly, breathing heavily He reached the check-in counter) where he put put his (plane) ticket in front of the smiling customer service represtative lady at the Air Blue counter. The lady looked at the clock and saw that there were still three minutes till the check-in time expired. She took a deep breath and printed Adnan his death's boarding card.
Adnan picked up the boarding card and the tag for his bag and thanked the customer service lady before heading towards the (waiting) lounge.
Another passenger (from the waiting list) missed his chance to get on to flight A321 from Karachi to Islamabad because of Adnan Qayum's last-minute checkin. The flight was not only booked full but there were thirteen passengers on the waiting list. These thirteen people really wanted to reach Islamabad and had surrounded Air Blue's Ground Staff and wanted to get on the flight at every cost. Amongst these passengers there was Jamshed Dasti an MNA from Muzafar-Garh, former MNA Mir Mehran Khan Bukhari and his son Mir Sulayman Khan Bukhari.
Amongst the passengers there was was FIA Immigration Karachi's shift in harge Inspector Rehmat Allah Domki. Mr. Domki was coming to Islamabad with his family but there was something that came up at the last minute. He stayed in Karachi and sent his family on to the flight. Out of all these people (mentioned), Adnan's story was especially sad.
Adnan Qayum got first position in his MBA in University. Thereafter, he (recently) applied to National Bank (from Islamabad) and got a job in Karachi. He went to Karachi to obtain his (employment) letter and was returning to Islamabad on July 28. On his way to Karachi airport from Karachi City, there was a lot of traffic which caused him to be late and he feared that he would miss his flight. Adnan looked at his watch repeatedly and told his drver to drive faster. As soon as he got to the airport he ran to check-in counter before it closed and got there three minutes before it closed and got his boarding pass. If at that moment Adnan had known that this journey (flight) was going to be the last one of his life and that he would not reach his loved ones in Islamabad, then would he have acted differently? The reality of our lives is hidden in this question. We are all people like Adnan Qayum. Adnan Qayum's last day was July 28 but Jamshed Dasti, Mr. Bukhari, Inspector Domky (all on the waiting list) and our last moment (in this world) is still to be determined. Lets think for one moment if any one of the 152 passengers had known that the ill-fated plane would not land in Islamabad airport but would instead crash, break and burn on the Margala hills, they would not have boarded that flight and perhaps never flown in their lives again. Alas, death is a scarey reality which man does not percieve till it is staring him in the eye-till man's soul is taken out of body like a silk thread. Its the biggest reality in our lives but we don't realize we will die till our frail bodies are placed in coffins and buried by our loved ones. Nature has put the desire of living in our cells to such an extent that we dont get rid of the desire to live even after we die. This desire still eminate from our hearts and other organs (stomach, liver, kidneys, etc.) which have a few hours of life in them (when we die) and plead with hope to people passing by that the people passing by will help revive our dead bodies. The desire to live stays in our dead body's DNA for millions of years. What is this? This is the un-tiring desire of life that keeps our desire to live vibrant till we are 60-70 years old and in fact stays with us even after we die. Therefore we are inter-twined with this desire to live and think we are are in dispnesable in this world. We think that death will overtake all living things except us. We will escape the trap of death. This wishful thinking makes us into tyrants, unjust, treacherours, fraudsters, promise breakers and power lovers. We wake up as Firaun and spead our legs like Nimrud while sleeping. We are thinking that all other flights in this world can get destroyed but our flights can never make a bad landing. Everyone else can have heart attacks but we cant have one. Everyone else can have a brain hemorage but we cant have one. Everyone else can have kidney failure but our kidneys cant fail. Everyone else can go blind but we cant go blind. Everyone else can have thier legs broken but us.. Everyone else can have deadly diseases like cancer, aids and TB but we will be saved. Our delusions are the real distraction in this world. These delusion stop us from knowing our bearings and doing the right things.
Close your eyes for one moment and imagine you are Awais Khan and Romia Khan, Asim Shahad and Aisha and you just got married a few days ago. Your resting on each other's shoulders and holding hands and landing (in your flight) in Islamabad. Your honeymoon will be in this city. You are Austria's professor who had come to lecture Pakistani students from Vienna or you are a big powerful bussiness man who many are scared of. But your time (in this world) finished when your plane crashed into Islamabad's Margalla Hills. Your honeymoon-bound hands are separated, your relationshp with life ended, all your appointments, your importance, your property, your posessions, your business, your factory, your bank balance all left your comapny in 10 seconds. Your mobile phone got lost in a jungle, credit cards, identifty cards insurance cards, passport and all related doucments all got destroyed in a few seconds . All your wishes, all your plans, all your hates, all your sadnesses, all your fears, all your schemes and all your victores- all disappated with your drops of blood that got attached to the trees, shrubs, leaves and grass (on the Margalla Hills). Your meat, bones got mixed with all the rubble. Your legs are with somene elses legs . Its also possible that your body parts are strewn and getting wet in the jungle and getting eaten by wild animals. The same body parts you kept which you so carefully kept away form bad odors and dirt. Its the same body which you fed with injustice, opeersion and hate. But where are you now? Where is your hate and where are your victories? They are nowehere. Your surrounded by the baggage of the deceased passengers , their blood and their bodies. On this rainy dark wet night, our helpless dead bodies await the footsteps of the rescuers,
This is us. This is our reality. But despite this we dont forgive people, We dont thank Allah for our bessings in this lfe. How foolish and naive are we?
