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Once in Washington, i was out on desi dine out in shalwar kameez and peshawari chappal. I sat in a Turkish diner with a few friends and someone placed his hand on my shoulder, i look up, a young man in a suit is looking down on me, he smiled and asked me to stand up - awestruck i obliged. He asked me to give him a hug, at this point i just didn't want to be rude so i gave him a hug. He politely asked if he could join our table, there were no women in our company so i said okay, let it be another dude fest. He sits down, greets other friends, we're all trying to be polite. I served him Turkish tea, beleklava and asked for his introduction.
He smiles, looks at my face and says my name is Onur and I'm from Bosnia. He said that you must be wondering why i just waltzed in and gave you a hug? - i was like yea. He said that when he was a child, it was the time of the Serb, Bosnian war, the Serbs were massacring us with genocidal intent. We were helpless as we had no army, no weapons and we weren't trained. We had light arms and serbs had Tanks, we stood no chance. Serbs would bring armor into our villages and kill the Muslim men and boys, they'd kidnap the women and girls and left the old people to bury the dead.
In those days, no one helped us. Then the Pakistan's Army arrived and along with them came the covert operators who started to arm and train us. They brought anti tank missiles which in Bosnia became known as the 'Green Arrows' (Baktar Shikan ATGMs). They would also fight with us against the Serbs and those missiles put an end to the use of Tanks. Suddenly the tables had turned and Serbs were paying a heavy toll once they were no longer protected by armor.
He said that the Pakistanis protected our families and were willing to die for us and they did. Therefore when i saw you in a Shalwar Kameez, i was sitting across the hall and i just had to come and give my thanks.
I was speechless, as one of own relatives had done a 5 year service in Bosnia with the UNPKF. We told him that it was a pleasure and we are glad to hear about this. We sat there for two hours, shared our meal and chatted. We parted after greeting warmly and i can't forget the look in his eyes. Proud to be a Pakistani
