In a muddy courtyard next to the cemetery where a Pakistani flag
flutters over her husband's grave, Mussarrat Bibi sits sobbing with the
mourners still coming to pay their respects.
Sergeant Mumtaz Hussain was one of 24 Pakistani soldiers killed by
NATO air strikes when he was deployed to fight the Taliban on the Afghan
border, leaving behind a devastated mother, widow and two young
children.
They say their anguish is all the more bitter because he died in an American war they don't believe Pakistan should be fighting.
"This is not the first time that the US attacked our soldiers, but
our government is not responding," shrieked Mussarrat. "It's not enough
to kill innocent soldiers who are breadwinners for their children."
A widow at just 24, she says her priority is her children.
"On the day he died, the kids missed him so much. They told me they
didn't want to go to school, they just wanted to see him and wouldn't go
to school until they had. My son still doesn't believe he's dead," she
said.
The killings at two border posts in the early hours of November 26
brought Pakistani-US relations to a fresh low and elicited a furious
response from Islamabad, although there has been little outpouring onto
the streets.
Pakistan will boycott Monday's international conference on
Afghanistan in Germany, has shut the Afghan border to NATO convoys and
ordered Americans to leave an air base, reportedly used as a hub for
covert CIA drone strikes, by December 11.
Angry with the government for allying with the US, bereaved relatives
say the only answer is ending the relationship and banning the covert
CIA drone war against Taliban commanders in the border region.
"India is our enemy and if we have to sacrifice our sons against
India, we would be proud. But what's the use of sacrificing our sons for
this meaningless war, which is not our war?" asked Hussain's uncle,
Muhammad Nazeer.
"If our government decides to come out of the US alliance, everything
will be OK. The Taliban won't attack us and we will grow. These drone
strikes are fuelling terrorism and strengthening the Taliban," said
Nazeer.
Islamabad says its frosty relationship with the US and NATO is under
review, although it remains unclear to what extent the government or the
military will force through substantial changes.
Pakistan is dependent on billions of dollars in US aid.
"This war should end now," said Said Beguman, Hussain's 70-year-old
mother, a shawl covering her grey hair, sitting in her humble home
deluged by mourners in Bhagwal village, 120 kilometres (75 miles) south
of Islamabad.
"This is bringing destruction to our country," she added. "I want
peace for the sons of other mothers. This war serves nobody and our
government must come out of it," said Beguman.
Her son lies in the graveyard behind the house, a mound of fresh
earth covered in rose petals and bouquets from President Asif Ali
Zardari, army chief General Ashfaq Kayani and opposition leader Nawaz
Sharif.
Pakistan believes it has paid too high a price for signing up to the
US-led "war on terror" in the dark days after the September 11, 2001
attacks in New York.
Homegrown Taliban are bombing cities and waging a bitter insurgency
in the northwest. The government says 35,000 people have died in 10
years, including more than 3,000 soldiers killed in battles with
Islamist militants.
Thirty kilometres east of Bhagwal, lies the village of Natowala that
like the rest of Chakwal district is a premier recruiting ground for the
army where scores of families depend on military salaries and pensions.
Tasleem Akhter says she is more upset by the government than the
death of her 20-year-old son, Rizwan Abbas, who was recruited last year.
"This was his desire and mine that he sacrifice his life for the
nation. I can sacrifice my three other sons for my homeland but our
government should change their policies," said the 35-year-old.
On his previous trip home, childhood friend Jameel Akhter said Abbas had a premonition that it might be his last.
"While we were out walking in the streets, he told me this might be
his last trip to the village and asked me to change the national flag on
his grave regularly after his death," Akhter told AFP.
"He always told stories about fights against the Taliban. I never expected the Americans to kill him," he said. AFP
