WE all do what we believe is the right thing to do. But what seems right to you can be so different from what the next person believes to be right. Let me explain what I mean.

Fifteen-year-old Aitezaz Hussain was standing outside his school gate last Monday, according to one account, when a man arrived, trying to gain entry into the Hangu school. There was something attached to his body. Aitezaz must have realised it was an explosive device similar to the ones he’d probably seen on the media strapped to the bodies of abortive suicide bombers.

Faced with such danger, in what must have been a split-second decision, Aitezaz attempted to stop the suicide bomber. In that moment, it isn’t clear whether young Aitezaz made the conscious decision to save the lives of hundreds inside the school premises. What is clear is that his instinct pushed him to do what he thought was the right thing. Aitezaz couldn’t have been unmindful of the consequences. Who would have blamed him for running for his life? But he didn’t.

In 2011 when his DHA Karachi home was attacked by a suicide bomber driving an explosives-laden vehicle, one of Karachi Police’s high-profile Taliban hunters Chaudhry Mohammad Aslam stood on the rubble of his badly damaged house to say he’d hunt down the terrorists and not be cowed.

“The terrorists are cowards to target my home, family and children. But they don’t scare me. I will continue this ‘jihad’ against the terrorists till the last drop of my blood,” the brave yet controversial police officer had said. He captured or killed in shootouts dozens of alleged Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists.

As recently as last Wednesday, a team led by him, engaged and shot three TTP militants. On Thursday, his fight and life ended in a bombing claimed by the TTP. Media reports suggested that in the past week alone he received 12 alerts about possible attempts on his life. But he chose to carry on the fight; he did what he thought was the right thing to do.

Media interviews with Chaudhry Aslam’s fellow police officers establish that his death hadn’t dealt a blow to the morale of a police force which lost nearly 200 members last year alone. All those interviewed had a common refrain: we’ll fight terror. We have to for the country’s sake.

I wish I could pay a named tribute to each of the thousands of our men in uniform who have embraced death while fighting for Pakistan as they believed it was the right thing to do. It is a measure of their valour that the ratio of army officers and other ranks killed in action is one of the highest in the world.

Our officers, young and old, have led from the front and fought the terrorists shoulder to shoulder with their men because they believed it was the right thing. Why else would they risk their lives?

In Pakistan’s war against these terrorists, whether it is our men in khaki or police or paramilitary forces, each has written chapter after chapter with their blood. Once this conflict ends and its history is written, some of the tales of valour will make us sit up.

This spectacular bravery is particularly mind-boggling when viewed against the backdrop of government policies which represent no more than indecision and statements by our elected leaders amounting to no more than capitulation to the terrorists.

Is there any point in naming these leaders who appeared to mourn, some even called him a martyr, when TTP mass murderer-in-chief Hakeemullah Mehsud was killed in a drone attack — this outrage because the imaginary talks with the TTP had been scuttled. Yes, imaginary because the terror group never agreed to talks and even killed an army general days after the talks offer was made. I’m sure our political leadership thought it was the right thing to do. The latest talks’ red herring is represented by Maulana Samiul Haq (teacher of the Afghan Taliban emir and the TTP naib emir), who has been asked by the prime minister to approach the terror group again.

He emerged from the prime minister’s meeting to tell the media that the TTP’s three demands are just — Pakistan should ‘stop US drone attacks; stop helping the foreigners’ war and enforce Sharia’. In fact, he claimed, these were the demands of ‘16 crore’ Pakistanis.

The maulana also termed ‘mazhaka khez’ (laughable) the government’s expectation that the TTP should lay down its arms without getting anything in return. These are the views of the ‘mediator’ chosen by the prime minister and backed by the PTI leader and not of the TTP leadership, in case you’re wondering.

Everyone, including duplicitous political parties such as the PPP and MQM that signed the all-party conference declaration endorsing talks with the TTP and did not withdraw their support despite the terrorists’ categorical ‘no’ to a ceasefire, must believe they’re doing the right thing too.

Can our elected leaders set us, once and for all, on the right course? Why should hundreds, thousands of men in uniform and an untold number of civilians have to offer the biggest sacrifice there is for a cause whose legitimacy has been obfuscated to near-oblivion?

It’s incumbent not just on the elected government but on all of us individually and collectively to stand up and be counted. Our heroes on the frontline in the war with the TTP and its allies are brave and selfless. They should never be made to feel they’re alone or that their cause isn’t just.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com