Existential dilemma in combat zone
It was in the middle of 1994. I was deployed in UNOSOM-II, the UN mission in civil war-torn Somalia. At the force headquarters in the capital Mogadishu, we had military and civilian representatives from a large number of countries. I was posted in U4 Section, dealing with operational logistics. Col Iftikar Ahmed Shah, an affable officer from the Pakistan Army Service Corps, headed the team.
The American forces had suffered losses during a botched-up operation in December 1993, when they had gone hunting for a prominent Somali warlord in the streets of Mogadishu. This reversal was depicted in the Hollywood movie Black Hawk Down. As can well be imagined, there was no love lost for the Americans due to the excessive force they used, especially in comparison with units from other countries like India, who focused on helping in civic actions and medical aid for the locals.
The Americans pulled out their units from the mission but the UNOSOM headquarters had their overarching presence in the form of a Logistic Control Centre. In the daily morning conference of the U4 Section, their representative was always present, and invariably it used to be Maj Billy Sontag, a portly and jovial man.
One morning, with the conference nearing conclusion, Colonel Shah mentioned the need to be careful while venturing out. He then looked at Billy, and seeing a worried look on his otherwise happy countenance, stated that there was a headhunt on for the Yanks in the streets and Billy should be extra careful. By now, Billy was perspiring and Shah was deriving great pleasure at his discomfiture. Finally to comfort him, Shah, whose English language skills were quite limited, lapsed into Urdu, ‘Allah taala ne jitni sansen bakshi hain, insaan utni der tak hi zinda hai!’ He did a quick translation into English, ‘I mean when your time is up, your time is up. You can only live till you don’t die. So don’t worry Billy.’ The meeting broke up with these pearls of wisdom and I headed for my office.
I was surprised to see Billy following me. Being able to converse with Indian officers fluently in English, he was always happy in our company. He now asked me to explain what the Pakistani Colonel was saying. I tried as best as I could. Billy was not to be mollified and blurted, ‘That’s daft! Supposing I just walk out onto a busy city street and jump in front of a speeding car, how would you then explain the Colonel’s fatalistic approach to life?’ I looked Billy in the eye and keeping a straight face, gave him my considered opinion, ‘If you do a suicidal thing like that, it means your time is up!’ A very distraught Billy stomped out of the office, none the wiser on fatalism or Oriental philosophy.
