In the full glare of the media, Samad Khurram refused to receive an award from Anne Patterson. None of the Pakistanis in the hall joined him or gave him a standing ovation.
By AHMED QURAISHI
Reported By ZAID HAMID
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A Pakistani student, Mr. Samad Khurram, today has done what the Pakistani government is afraid to do so far: Snub the U.S. ambassador in the Pakistani capital for the cowardly U.S. attack against our military on the border with Afghanistan.
Samad, a student of law at Harvard University, was in Islamabad to receive a shield of achievement from Pakistani student Samad Khurram sitting alone after refusing to receive a certificate from the U.S. ambassador. Copyrighted picture - Online News Network, Pakistan.Anne Patterson, the U.S. ambassador.
But instead of sucking up to the U.S. ambassador, like many Pakistani officials choose to do, Samad had on his mind the blood of over 30 Pakistanis, half of them soldiers, who were killed on the soil of their homeland on June 10 when the Americans sided with Karzai thugs, also known as the ‘Afghan national army’, and used massive air power to target a peaceful Pakistani border post.
Ms. Patterson was attending a special ceremony organized at the National Arts Gallery by a privately owned Pakistani school. The school had invited 188 of its former students who received scholarships to study at various American colleges and universities. Parents of the students were present, along with Mrs. Zahida Kiayni, the wife of the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani.
Ms. Patterson and other U.S. embassy officials were shocked and embarrassed when Samad walked to the stage to receive his award but then announced he was refusing the honor to protest the unprovoked American violation of Pakistani airspace and the murder of innocent Pakistanis.
A shaken Ms. Patterson smiled sheepishly and tried to make the best out of an embarrassing moment.
According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, the official news agency, this is how the U.S. ambassador responded:
“The American ambassador, responding to the protest of the student, said America has deep regrets on the incident. She said America is proud to have him (Samad Khurram) in USA for study, adding, “The only way to remove the misunderstanding is to exchange ideas and views.”
Ms. Patterson had a point there. We need to put our position out to the Americans in a clear way. Samad did just that. He did not boycott the ceremony. He attended it and made sure he rebuked the U.S. ambassador in the full glare of the media.
The unfortunate part is that no one present in the huge hall of NCA joined this nationalist young Pakistani in his gesture. At the very least, Pakistanis present in the hall should have given him a standing ovation.
The other unfortunate part is that none of the 80 or so Pakistani news channels highlighted the incident. Why did we allow private Pakistani channels in the first place? Wasn’t it to project Pakistani position to the world? If this was the Indian media, if this was the Chinese media, if this was the Iranian media, if this was the Arab media, if this was Turkish media, this incident would have been repeated at the top of every news bulletin for the day.
I hope some of the defeatist ‘liberal’ Pakistanis working for television news channels might be reading this. If you know someone there, please admonish them. I know plenty myself. But I work for one. I don’t own it. Never will.
It is sad that ordinary Pakistanis will always be more nationalist and patriotic than their so-called ‘liberal’ intellectuals and their non-intellectual politicians.
But Samad Khurram, no matter what, we are proud of you.
I urge my fellow nationalist Pakistanis to email Samad and congratulate him. His email is samadkhurram@gmail.com.
8 Responses
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Brother,
I liked your blog it’s very interesting too.. and on the top of that you have included religious articles about our Imams (a) …. but then again Prophet is missing there…… :SSS Please include Prophet (s) along side Imam Ali (a) on the top………. don’t freak out it;s common mistake we shia make when making religious website no offense intended !!!
Thank you very much for your comments.
I have not freaked out on including articles about the Holy Prophet(S.A.W.W.)
The pages on Hazrat Ali(A.S.) and Bibi Sayyeda(S.A.) that you see above were written on special occasions and when the time comes, I’ll write one on the Prophet too. Meanwhile I do have a category by the name of the Prophet(S.A.W.W.), my friend.
BTW, it wasn’t meant to be a religious website.
nah, you didn’t get it… 13 Rajab is just around the corner and we invite hunderds of people and arrange a big party in a hotel to celebrate but on the occasion of 12 Rabbi or 17
only khatam darood hehe….i am very annoyed by this…. i know Prophet (S) certainly holds much higher place than Imam Ali (a) in our faith but we got to show it off to the world….. hmmm app naay mind nahi kiya ho ga 
anyway you can delete these comments it’s offtopic i didn’t have any other way to contact you so posted it here
One last thing… if you ever explored shiachat.com the largest shia community forum just let you know … i would be pleased to greet you there if you log on there it’s not my site anyway
The Holy Prophet certainly holds a higher status than Maula Ali but you have to understand that the praise of Imam Ali is in fact the praise of the Prophet himself. The praise of Imam Husain is the praise of the Prophet.
“Husaino minni wa ana min-al-Husain!”
Rasoolallah ko poori dunya mana rahi hai is liye hamara zor Maula Ali pe hota hai. Sara jhagra zaate Ali pe hai is liye! Rasoolullah aur tamam Imamon ka zikr saath saath chalta hai.
BTW, you can leave your correct email address here so you can receive replies to your comments here. It’ll remain safe, don’t worry.
You are right brother,,, but i actually pointed out the fact that we shiite praise Imam Ali (a) more and it confuses illiterate or people with poor knowledge about our faith …. !!!! anyway great work your blog is worth reading man !!!
Thanks a lot!
I’ll try to come but with the current state of work…