Militants and their apologists

Blinkers on their eyes

The Pakistani defenders of the Taliban seem to have put blinkers on their eyes. Imran Khan and other apologists of the Taliban are never tired of telling us is that the militant attacks on innocent people, suicide bombings at crowded places, and assaults on minorities are in fact protests against the occupation of Afghanistan by the US. Once the US and Nato vacate Afghanistan, close down their bases and relocate their drones from the region terrorist attacks will immediately cease. Once Pakistan ends cooperation with the US, the TTP and its affiliates will hand over weapons at the nearest police station and join the international pacifist movement. The TTP leadership including Hakimullah Mehsud, Ihsanullah Ihsan and Sufi Mohammad has forthrightly rejected the narrative. They maintain that jihad will continue till the entire Muslim world accepts their narrow interpretation of Islam and people in non-Muslim countries either embrace Islam or pay jizya. All the terrorist leaders are united on democracy, parliamentary system, Supreme Court and the Pakistan Constitution being violative of Islam and want them to be replaced by a world-wide khilafah. As they know this cannot be done through peaceful persuasion, they have resolved to achieve their aim through violence.

The type of Islam the Taliban want to enforce should be clear from what happened in a Taliban controlled area in Afghanistan on Monday. 15 men and two women were beheaded for holding a mixed party with music. Gatherings of the sort are a part of the Afghan as well as Pakistani culture. But the word culture does not exist in the militants’ dictionary. Are the defenders of the militants opposed to women singing and dancing as they do in Pakistan’s villages and cities? Once the Americans leave, killings of the sort are more likely to increase than come to an end. Do we want to take Pakistan to the type of the stone age the militants and their apologists want to create?

The militants have no regard for traditions or heritage either. They have attacked shrines of Sufis held in great esteem by millions, killing in the process hundreds of devotees. Does this criminal activity have anything to do with anti US sentiment? The militants do not believe in persuading their opponents. Anyone rejecting their point of view is in their eyes a legitimate target. They believe their ideology gives them a license to kill. They have attacked mosques full of people offering Friday prayers, busy market places and major bazaars in big cities. To exist as a progressive and democratic country as visualized by Jinnah, Pakistan has to stand against the invasion of those bent on wreaking havoc on our society.