Today General Faisal Alvi is being buried with full honours in the military cemetery in Islamabad. He lately commanded the Pakistani Special Services Group, or SSG, that spearheads the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He was loyal to then-President Pervez Musharraf, refusing to take notice of the damaging politics of the military in Pakistan. After a career like this, I suppose he was a marked man. Although retired, he had a security escort, but the government had just withdrawn it for no very obvious reason. The gunmen, presumably from al-Qaeda and the Taliban, must have seen their chance. They ambushed his car, and shot him and the driver dead. Now they are gloating.

Not so long ago Faisal was sitting in my house. We spoke about the sad state of the Muslim world where violence rules and reforms seem impossible. Gunmen had previously shot and killed Shabbir Bokhari, his own brother-in-law and head of the Pakistani electoral commission. Youthful in his early fifties, Faisal made a formidable impression, a man with information, a practical intelligence, and a cosmopolitan outlook. Tall and handsome, he was also every inch a soldier. He spoke about his time in Waziristan, and described scenes of combat in Wana in the tribal areas. In his eyes, terrorists are cowards who don’t dare face you out in the open. He had nothing but contempt for them, and was himself evidently without fear. But now, alas, they are gloating.

We owe more than we know to General Faisal for fighting the good fight. Men like him are rare and his murder diminishes everyone.