On the rampage

Militants won’t give up, so should we

There is no doubt the terrorists are on the rampage. A question that remains unanswered is that if it is their last hurrah or they have regrouped and consolidated their stranglehold on the Pakistani state. The US administration claims albeit with little conviction that they are on the run. However, the Pakistanis on the receiving end of the stick know otherwise.

The failed attack on the Peshawar airport that also serves as a Pakistan Air Force base was really scary. Had the terrorists succeeded in their nefarious design to hold Bacha Khan Airport, it would have been tantamount to the beginning of the end for the Pakistani state.

Apart from its strategic implications, it would have further tarnished the inviolability and invincibility of our security forces. As if this was not enough, only two days later the attack on Jamrud tehsil of the Khyber agency, which felled 18 people mostly belonging to the Kukikhel tribe, loyal to the government, drove the message home.

There is widespread outrage in the country against the Taliban’s current campaign against polio vaccination. After a number of health workers were killed in Karachi and KP, the government suspended the campaign followed by the WHO pulling out.

All of the above does not instill much confidence in the efficacy of the state in dealing with the terrorists menace. By stalling the polio campaign, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, working in tandem, have been able to demonstrate that they can control the agenda with impunity.

With the exception of Pakistan, economies of most South Asian countries are booming. Owing to safety concerns, foreigners neither want to visit the country, nor invest here. No cricket team worth its salt has toured the country since the attack on the Sri Lankan team in March 2009.

Even the health workers that are generally spared by militants’ organisations leading genuine struggles of national liberation are no longer welcome. The CIA by using polio vaccination campaign to penetrate Osama bin Laden’s compound has done no service to Pakistan.

For a country in the throes of an existential threat, this does not augur well. Despite the gravity of the situation the nation is divided how to fix the problem. Suffering from an identity crisis of sorts we refuse to acknowledge who is our real enemy? The Taliban, the Americans or our own fixated mindset!

A large swathe of the society thinks that if the Americans leave us alone and suspend their drone attacks on our badlands, things will normalise and the Afghan Taliban, Uzbeks and terrorists of various hues will somehow quit their nefarious agenda and it would be all peace and quiet. Even the Pakistani Taliban will no longer be engaged in terrorist attacks against their countrymen.

However, more perceptive and cerebral sections of our polity are quite aware that no matter what the Americans do, the Taliban are here to stay. Converting Pakistan into a theocratic state forms the bedrock of the militants’ blueprint.

Whether it is the role of women in society or polio vaccination to rid our future generations of the menace or the democratic system in the country, these elements are bent upon pursuing their grand design through the barrel of the gun.

It is generally perceived that even within our vast security apparatus, there is no dearth of their sympathisers. The military rightly contends that it has greatly suffered losing thousands of soldiers fighting terrorism.

Nonetheless the ethos that permeated all sections of our polity, military included, during the long ‘ideological’ dictatorship of Gen Zia-ul-Haq, persists. Thanks to the policies pursued by Gen Musharraf and most post-Zia civilian governments, the Taliban school of thought has strengthened with the passage of time.

A large section of the media has also played not-too-insignificant a role in support of a retrogressive bent in a vast section of our society. There are honourable exceptions, of course, but most talk show hosts rarely take a firm position against the militants. Similarly, the vernacular media articulates a persistent pro-Taliban bent of mind.

The electronic media largely controlling dissemination of news and opinion in the country is a stark reality. This is a malaise that cannot be easily fixed. And like the chicken and egg question, the media feeds the people what they want or the other way round.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta tells us that the Pakistani military has decided to go after the criminals ensconced in the tribal areas. There has been no independent confirmation by any functionary of the civilian government or the military of this change of heart.

Perhaps a first step in the direction of showing some serious intent to prosecute the terrorists is the unanimous passing by the National Assembly of the ‘Fair Trial Bill’. The law once approved by the Senate will allow security agencies to collect evidence by means of modern techniques and devices.

The proposed bill will naturally raise eyebrows amongst the opposition and human rights groups for its propensity of being misused against political opponents. However, a compromise with the opposition in the National Assembly that resulted in unanimous passing of the bill shows that the opposition is equally serious about prosecuting the terrorists.

The attitude of cherry picking though prevails. Hence a law will merely prove to be ineffective in curbing the menace of terrorism. The flip-flops on Hafiz Saeed, the head of the banned Jama’at-ud-Da’wah, by Interior Minister Rehman Malik during his recent visit to India are a case in point.

Notwithstanding any law, the jihadists cannot be nabbed without the political will on the part of the government and tenacity of the security agencies. Otherwise, the likes of Mualana Ishaq – the alleged perpetrator of the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team – will continue to go scot free.

Meanwhile, the resurfacing of Allama Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri with much fanfare has created quite a stir. The Pakistani Sufi scholar has decided to end his exile on the eve of elections with a bang. Millions of rupees are being spent on the publicity campaign and advertisements in the print and electronic media announcing his impending arrival on Sunday.

His anti-Taliban message and a relatively enlightened interpretation of Islam are welcome. However, his slogan, ‘siysat nahi, riyasat bachao’ (instead of indulging in politics, save the nation) has raised quite a few eyebrows about his real agenda.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today