WE, the people of Pakistan, should be proud of our heroes who showed the moral courage and commitment to join the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) that was taking food and medicine supplies meant for the people of Gaza. Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, a former senator, is the most prominent among them, but there have been a few others as well.

Previously, journalist Talaat Hussain and his team had participated in a similar flotilla back in 2010. We must salute the heroism of all such souls.

There were nearly 500 activists from 44 countries aboard more than 40 GSF vessels. Only about one-third of them happened to be Muslims. Human rights and conscience are universal values that have no links with faith; it is all about individual choices.

Looking back, our political and religious parties actively participated in the Afghan proxy war that was funded by the United States and its agencies in the 1980s, weaponising our beautiful religion to recruit innocent individuals for what was a conflict between the US and the erstwhile Soviet Union.

Pakistan really made a cardinal mistake that no sovereign nation should ever make.

Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2025