It is past time we called a spade a spade
Indeed, the ninth of October 2012 was a tragic day for every Pakistani when the 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai became a victim of fanatic Taliban for asking for her most basic right, the right to education. Her enlightened thinking, progressive mind, exemplary courage had in fact frightened the coward Taliban, so they decided to put a stop to the voice of enlightenment with the power of bullet.
Yes, it was a tragic incident for every Pakistani as well as for each and every human being all over the globe, but the incident has also given us an opportunity to stand up united against the nefarious designs of Taliban. The civil society, the media and the general public reacted sharply against this barbaric act of terrorism. Yet, when the whole Pakistani nation stands united and unanimous to take action against Taliban, our religious leaders, particularly the ones belonging to a certain school of thought, do not seem to be in a mood to condemn the heinous incident the way they should. Many ifs and buts can be seen in their statements while condemning the Malala incident. Some religious leaders have even come up with statements that say that Taliban are not involved in the said incident, rather the attack was staged by US spy agency CIA.
The Pakistani nation is unable to understand the morbidity of their religious leaders. Is it not amazing that attackers themselves have claimed the responsibility of the incident but thanks to their inbuilt prejudices these so-called religious leaders are trying to give the attackers a clean chit? According to confirmed sources, some renowned religious leaders, including Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman and Qazi Husain Ahmad, have approached Taliban in an attempt to persuade them to withdraw their earlier statement through which they accepted the responsibility of the incident.
Unfortunately, there are people who are fabricating and disseminating different stories through SMS and social websites to hide the truth. Some say Malala was not injured at all, that she is fine and that the whole drama was staged to malign the “pious Taliban” who are struggling to establish a truly Islamic state. In the follow up of their claim of being responsible for this incident, the Taliban are now threatening media anchors and article writers for highlighting the Malala incident. But our religious scholars and their followers have yet to see the involvement of Taliban in the said incident. If, for a while, we accept that all this was staged, then what was the purpose behind claiming the responsibility of the incident by Taliban spokesman Ehsan Ullah Ehsan? Hats off to CIA who has got one of its agents appointed as spokesman of Taliban.
It is certainly a time to act and to come out of these cock and bull stories. History is replete with examples in which religion has been used to kill people. Who killed the second, third and fourth caliphs of Muslims, and who killed the grandson of the Prophet (PBUH), Hazrat Hussain? All of them were killed brutally by their brethren in faith in the name of Islam. Moreover, we the Muslims always claim that the era of our first four caliphs was really the golden era of our history but let us be honest, three out the first four caliphs were assassinated by the Muslims themselves. Was there any America at that time who instigated them to kill their caliphs? Was there any conspiracy of CIA behind the shameful war of Karbala?
The Zardari regime is looking at this incident as an opportunity to escape from general elections expected to be held in March 2013. Many hawks in power corridors are trying to persuade the political and military leadership to launch a military operation against Taliban on the pattern of Swat operation. But I believe before launching any such operation, our policymakers have to make it sure that not even a single terrorist escapes from there. The operation should be decisive one. Let us pledge to fight against terrorism till the elimination of the last terrorist. It is time to ponder as to why Muslims, particularly Pakistani Muslims, are being associated with terrorism all over the world. A few days back, French interior minister came up with a harsh statement threating the Muslims to remain peaceful, failing which they would be expelled from France.
Let us decide to grow up as a nation, be rational, understand the real teachings of our religion, come out of dogmatic and myopic understanding of Islam, stop making Islam a scapegoat for our political motives, learn a lesson from history and come up with courage to call a spade a spade.