In history, warfare is always narrated with pride and those who fought are elevated to the status of heroes. The soldiers fight with bravery and courage, and kill each other without knowing their opponents and without any personal grudges. They are goaded by their leaders either in the name of religion, patriotism or personal loyalty. Victory is celebrated amidst the dead, wounded and dying soldiers of both sides without any feelings involved. There is only one instance in history when the victor was moved after seeing the horrors in the battlefield. When Ashoka (d.232BC), the Mauryan emperor saw dead bodies of soldiers after the battle of Kalinga, he realised how many women became widows and how man children became orphans. When he heard the crying of wounded he felt their suffering and pain, resolving never again to wage war but instead to devote his whole life to peace and non-violence. Other rulers continued to fight in wars using soldiers to kill each other without any emotions for those who died, got wounded or maimed or became disabled for the rest of their lives. There is no record or documentation of the millions of soldiers who have lost their lives in the battlefield fulfilling other people’s ambitions. Did n’t a philosopher say that it is the basic human right of a person to die a natural death?
Wars and battles have deprived so many people of the pleasure and happiness of a peaceful life. There is suffering, pain and death. It is a fantasy for them to be
remembered as martyrs and heroes. Sadly, history forgets the common soldiers who dieon the battlefield and are collectivelyattributed in a monument as unknownsoldiers. On the other hand, generals areeulogised as great heroes. Their statues erected in public places and their tombs built Mmagnificently. Even in death, there is difference between the common and the elite.
During the First and Second World Wars, theBritish government in the subcontinent recruited young people with the help of feudal lords to fight those with whom they had no hatred or enmity. It was not their war but they had to engage in the conflict under compulsion. We have not yet learnt a lesson from the past and are committing the same mistake by becoming involved in the war in Afghanistan on behalf of the US. Is it our own war or are we fighting other people’swars?
By Mubarak Alihttp://www.dawn.com/news/1081285/past-present-acts-of-valour
