Suicide Bomber Kills Surgeon General Pakistan

A suicide bomb in Rawalpindi killed General Mushtaq Ahmed Baig, alongside seven others. The suicide bomber rammed in to the General's car near MH (Military Hospital) and Post Office on Mall Road Rawalpindi on Monday. Twenty others were wounded in the attack. The death of a top rank General has been a first and labeled by many as the greatest loss since 9/11. The attack is taken to be another in the series from Al-Qaeda.

Loss of life is equally agonizing regardless of whose life it is. Yet the idealism of this statement is fleeting. The death of a nine month, nine year and ninety year old are not the same. The death of a President and a poor citizen are not the same. The death of a soldier and a General are not the same. The death of a Surgeon General and seven others (whose name no newspaper cared to mention) are not the same. And the death of a suicide bomber and victims of his attack are not the same.

Some year ago I wrote
'Death is always a tragedy.
Birth, always a miracle.
Then why mourn anew every time,
when the story never changes'

I feel Mushtaq Ahmed Baig's death was a huge loss to the country with or without the title General. He was a senior doctor, a specialist, a person with skill and knowledge. How many doctors of comparable expertise and ability do we have in Pakistan? And how many more of them shall we see slaughtered in the name of religion?