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Khawaja Rafiq’s legacy & Pakistan’s path forward

5 1
05.01.2025

SHEIKH Ibrahim Zauq may have remained overshadowed in comparison to Ghalib, but he did compose a verse so endearing that one cannot help but admire it: “If you wish to be remembered, then create means of benefit: Build a bridge, a well… a mosque or a pond.”This verse would not have come to mind had the worthy sons of Khawaja Muhammad Rafiq Shaheed—Khawaja Saad Rafiq and Khawaja Salman Rafiq—not created such means of benefit themselves. Who was Khawaja Muhammad Rafiq? I posed this question to a few journalists today, one of whom is a prominent TV program host and boasts an enviable following on social media. New generation, who proudly identify as “Gen Z,” tend to respond to such questions with puzzled looks and indifferent shrugs, saying, “Strange.”

After experiencing this odd response, I felt disheartened and was reminded of my childhood in a middle-class, landowning family known for its dedication to agriculture, knowledge and skill. My late father, Hakim Ghulam Hussain Adil, an ideological man with a clear political vision, often educated us through meaningful conversations. I recall one winter evening when he returned home, silently reclined on his seat and seemed lost in thought. Concerned, my mother asked if everything was alright. After a pause, trying to contain his emotions, he said, “Today, Khawaja Muhammad Rafiq was martyred.”We were not “Gen Z”........

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