M.M Alam passed away in March
2013? Hadn’t he passed many years ago? I did know that he was a war hero.
Perhaps I would have never known of him hadn’t the famous road of Lahore, on
which all the posh and famous eateries are located, been named after him. I
don’t even know what M.M Alam’s full name was? Or why is he our hero? Which
war? The feeling of remorse kept growing as I pondered upon it.
So, I sat down and looked up his
name on the internet. Our media is too busy hosting topics that improve the
ratings that they conveniently trimmed the air time and newspaper space this
news required. Of the obituaries and other material I found; I was impressed, astonished
and most strongly of all, ashamed.
Mr. Muhammad Mahmood Alam, sitara-e-jurat’, was North American Aviation F-86 Sabre
flying ace. Mr. Alam, also known as the ‘little dragon’, gunned down
five Indian fighter jets in 55 seconds in Indo-Pak war of 1965- world record unbeaten
till date. He was a Bengali Pakistani who was loyal to Islamic Republic of
Pakistan even after 1971. Eldest of 11 siblings, Mr. Alam never married because
his tough life didn’t allow him the luxury of marriage. He worked for the
future and stable lives of his brothers and sisters at the stake of his own. He
did the same for his country; such valor and passion is evident from his untarnished
professional and altruistic retired life. It’s a shame that the ones he made
all the sacrifices for abandoned him; far from the iconic treatment he
deserved. He took an early retirement because he liked to walk with his head
high. Although his income was close to negligible, still he refused to receive
his well-earned pension. He joined the Afghan Mujahideen in fighting the
Soviet. That’s the last it was heard of Mr. Alam until his death in 2013.
As much
as I like to think that the new generation, the youth everyone has high hopes
from, will make Pakistan a country I would proudly want to live in, I am taken
aback when I see youngsters following Ashton Kutcher and Angelina Jolie rather
than Abdul Sattar Edhi. Or when I see how they know who won the ‘teens choice
for best actor’ rather than finding pride in the Dr. Abdus Salam’s achievement
of Nobel Prize and trying to build on it. There are still many living legends
who have done applaudable work and are more than willing to guide the youngster.
We need to do a self-analysis as a nation and get out of this imaginary status-conscious-mind-set
and rearrange our priorities. It is dire need of time that we do so before it
is too late.
