Since 1979, Pakistan has survived in a war-like situation. The first Afghan war ended in 1988 but only after a few years, Afghanistan again got sucked into a vortex of violence, first during the Taliban takeover and then the Second Afghan war which started in 2001. Pakistan, unfortunately being a frontline state, paid and is paying a colossal price, with thousands of Pakistanis having embraced martyrdom. Recently, while going through the responses on Twitter to the martyrdom of law enforcement officials, I was saddened by some of them. Although I believe that Pakistanis hold their martyrs in the highest esteem and the unwarranted comments are surely from our enemies, I still want to apprise my readers as to what martyrdom is and what happens when a family is conveyed that their son or daughter has given the ultimate sacrifice for the Motherland. Death is the only reality which exists for every known thing in the universe. Whether living or unliving, every bit of matter has to retrograde into the atoms which constitute it. But dying in an accident and laying down your life in the service of your country are two different things. Having experienced the likelihood of death from very close, after being twice shot, please believe me when I say that law enforcement is not for the weak-hearted. Knowing that a raid or a gun battle can lead to the end of your life tests the limits of one’s faith and love for the people of Pakistan, for whom one is ready........

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