You cannot mend forever broken hearts with words nor wipe tears with them
After turning Peshawar’s Army Public School into a killing field one of the terrorists phoned his handlers and asked: “We have killed all the children in the auditorium. What do we do now?” The handler replied: “Wait for the army people, kill them before blowing yourself up.”
Not just the terrorists, I’ll tell you who really killed our children. We did. We did by our callous attitude. We did by holding forth thoughtlessly, unwittingly becoming apologists for terrorism. We did by electing and tolerating terrible leadership. We did by tolerating the demented sermonising of demonic mullahs in mosques, madrassas and political parties. Thus did we allow terrorists to thrive. They are the products of our perfidy. They just press triggers. We give them guns, not books as Malala lamented. Most of all, I am angry with myself for not standing up more against society’s duplicity.
The problem is that most of our men don’t have balls; our women do. Why not hand Pakistan over to women? They would do a damn sight better job than men who are only good at contemplating their navels and then haranguing us with whatever nonsense comes to their challenged minds.
Control your anger, Humayun. Cut to the chase. Beating chests won’t do. Learn from the tragedy of the coldblooded massacre of 144 people including 132 schoolchildren, analyse mistakes and find corrections. Time to understand: THIS IS OUR WAR. Own it, fight it. Understand that terrorism is akin to a venom-spewing tree. Plucking its leaves, cutting branches and chopping its trunk doesn’t work. Destroy its roots in the ground and in our minds where they are most dangerous.
It took this tragedy to bring our ‘misleaders’ together in a ‘Political Fest’. A photograph of these geniuses makes one’s heart sink: are these the men who are going to lead our destiny? God help us, but He will not until we help ourselves first. Start by kicking misleaders out of our body politic that they have been polluting for years. Many of them called the terrorists “stakeholders”, “sulking compatriots”, “one of us” with whom we must hold a dialogue and allow them to open an office here. They must be mollycoddled and brought back in the fold. We lost eight precious months and the element of surprise before the army launched an operation against them with a reluctant prime minister going along. These men around the table who would lead our destiny admit that elections were rigged, that there is corruption and yet would support an illegal government on the pretext of supporting sham democracy and a political system that benefits them and them alone.
Lacking originality, the Political Fest decided to set up a committee. Yippee! The terrorists must be quaking with fright. The army forced them to agree to hang all convicted terrorists forthwith.
It took this tragedy to bring our ‘misleaders’ together in a ‘Political Fest’. A photograph of these geniuses makes one’s heart sink: are these the men who are going to lead our destiny?
What should be done?
1. Formation of a National War Government even if it comprises buffoons to get national consensus on the new anti-terrorism strategy.
2. Parliament should immediately declare a counter Jihad against fake Jihadi terrorists.
3. Declare a National War Emergency. Don’t let the fake treason case against General Musharraf weigh on what passes for your minds.
4. Empower the National Counter Terrorism Authority, give it funds and a head. Don’t quibble over whether a general (who would do a damn sight better job) or a pet civilian should head it. If government can spend billions on metro-buses and motorways, surely it can give much-needed fewer funds to NACTA. Problem is, motorways and metro buses give kickbacks; NACTA doesn’t. For God’s sake get satiated now you politicians.
5. Launch a simultaneous countrywide operation against terrorists of all ilk.
6. Give Afghanistan 24 hours to hand over terrorists and separatists to us or we will come to get them ourselves. Their lament that we don’t give their terrorists to them should be agreed to. There should be no such thing as “their terrorists” and “our terrorists”, “Good Taliban” and “Bad Taliban” just as there are no ‘Good Demons’ and ‘Bad Demons’. Demons are demons, period. All terrorists are everyone’s terrorists and should be dealt with collectively. Forget this fifth front nonsense.
7. Strengthen laws so that terrorists don’t easily get bail.
8. Establish summary courts run on due process with one appeal. Implement sentences immediately so terrorists don’t sit in jail foisting hell.
9. Create a narrative to counter the pernicious brainwashing narrative of terrorists and their sympathisers.
10. Kick out pro-terrorist mullahs from all mosques and madrassas.
11. Strengthen PEMRA to properly regulate media so that it doesn’t let these demons and their apologists spew their demented venom and pollute minds.
12. Unite people against terrorism government must end State Terrorism, like the Model Town massacre.
13. Make contemporary curricula for all educational institutions and ban the terrorist-producing Nebraska curriculum that the US made to create Mujahedeen against the Soviets.
It is easy to jump to conclusions in a storm of emotions. But the bloody outrage has boomeranged against the terrorists who tried to lower our morale by coinciding their heinous act with the fall of Dacca on December 16, spread terror and nip future soldiers in the bud by killing army and civilian children in an army school. This is the fallout, good and bad:
1. People are finally accepting that the war on terror is our war and we are fighting it for ourselves.
2. Instead of showing the army up as ineffective, public support for the army has increased, though one wonders how many more straws the army camel’s back can take before it breaks. Or is it a mule from the famous ‘Mule Battalion’. Many want the army to take over again, but what they should actually demand is true democracy through change of system.
3. They have darned somewhat the tattered civil-military relationship. This should dilute Nawaz Sharif’s “terrible fear” of army intervention. It won’t as long as he doesn’t go too far down the path of imbecility. The Peshawar carnage should show him that situations can change instantaneously and cause reaction. He should remember how his world changed when he illegally sacked General Musharraf, hijacked his plane and tried to send it to India. Bizarre is a word not unknown to us.
4. They succeeded in showing Imran Khan’s KPK provincial government as incompetent.
5. They succeeded in ending Imran’s protests against election fraud and prevented the shutting down of the country on December 18. This has helped Nawaz Sharif more than the terrorists. Perhaps it also gave Imran the chance to get out of a blind alley because he wouldn’t ratchet up his protest by storming the citadels of the great. He is convinced that this system can put him in office through honest elections, little realising that honest elections aren’t possible in this system.
Who does it benefit, advertently or inadvertently?
1. The government under inordinate pressure, though I am not suggesting for a moment that it was behind the massacre.
2. India, for it would love Nawaz Sharif to remain in office and continue his India-pandering. I am certainly suggesting that India might be behind the dastardly deed, as it has been behind many before.
3. Afghanistan perhaps for it makes Pakistan more dependent on its cooperation.
Establish summary courts run on due process with one appeal. Implement sentences immediately so terrorists don’t sit in jail foisting hell
Whose fault is it? It is our collective fault for not standing up to state and non-state terrorism and not supporting something good when it is being done. We opposed President Musharraf when he tried to cleanse the Lal Masjid of terrorist mullahs not because we like them but because we hated Musharraf more. We supported chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry when Musharraf sacked him not because we liked him but because we liked Musharraf less. A confused ‘elected’ government restored Iftikhar Chaudhry and his cohorts who in turn restored the terrorist Mullah Burqa to Lal Masjid. Today he supports the school massacre as justified reaction to the army’s anti-terrorist operation in North Waziristan and government lets him be. That people are protesting outside the mosque means that they have finally woken up and are learning. They should storm it and do what Musharraf was forced to leave undone. Refuse to pray in the mosque until it is purified and cleansed of these Devil’s demons.
The deficiency of testosterone producing orbs primarily afflicts our politicians, pseudo intellectuals, most male media anchors and analysts. Our religious leaders are semi-literate and so mentally challenged that they twist the Word of God to achieve their ends, shamelessly preach it and act against the Word of God, like “though shalt not kill” for killing one human being is akin to killing the whole of humanity. Fazlur Rahman who exploits religion for his politics and has the temerity to call himself ‘Maulana’ says his heart beats as one with the Taliban. Today to save his politics he says that killing children is not Jihad. Haven’t children been killed by terrorists before you moron?
An angry lady messaged the growing national sentiment to me: “Children were shot in the face. Children were shot in the head. Children were dragged out from under the chairs, under the tables, and shot. At pointblank. Methodically. Coldly. Clinically. To avenge the deaths of militants who were wreaking havoc on innocent Pakistanis in myriad acts of terror. It’s retribution, they say.
“I have nothing to say here. You call yourself a Muslim and yet you do what Allah forbids you to do: to perpetrate a war in His name where you kill children. Where you kill people who have never harmed you. You are not just Pakistan’s enemies but you are also your own worst enemy.
“Before a court penalises you, before the bullet of a soldier kills you, you will die a thousand deaths. The screams of the children you killed today, the wails of the parents whose children you killed today, the pain of the nation whose young you killed today will not let you be in peace. Until you die.
“Words have lost their value to express the magnitude of the damage done to the hearts and souls of a common Pakistani. May Allah SWT rest the innocent departed souls in peace in heaven and give courage and forbearance to the bereaved families to bear this colossal loss. Ameen. I feel extremely sorry for every Pakistani mother especially for those who have lost their treasures of a lifetime. May Allah protect our children.
“First step: Mr Prime Minister we don’t need statements from you. Stop showing your sorrow and stop these sorry statements. Within this week announce hanging of the 500 plus terrorists under custody and hang them publicly. We don’t need your wordy pious statements. The whole nation should ask only one thing: public hanging of the arrested terrorists. Our slogan for the campaign against terrorism and terrorists for the government and the armed forces is: ‘An Eye for an Eye. A tooth for a tooth. Hang them all. Hang ’em High.”
The intrepid Muhammad Hanif wrote: “There is no need to offer prayers for the souls of the children killed in Peshawar. What possible sin could 16-year-olds have committed? Pakistan’s political and military leadership is requested not to worry about the children’s afterlife. When they raise their hands in prayer, they should pray for their own forgiveness. And they should look at their hands closely, lest they be stained with blood.” I would add from Macbeth: “Out, out damned spot.”
I am not done.
Excellent article. Well written from the heart and mind. I agree with all your points especially regarding war national emergency.
Let us frankly admit it Pakistan problems have continued to multiply because first of all the people at the helm of our affairs are INCOMPETENT, UNQUALIFIED, SELFISH and DISHONEST. Those whose job and responsibility is to check, investigate and scrutinise have turned inot "wah wah te balle balle brigade". There is not a single person in our Parliament to ask this Prime Minister why he is holding the government in his pocket. The man simply is not capable of governing. And secondly the rampant corruption in the government has offered the entire educational field to the Mulla who has been promoting intolerence, militancy and terror. Unless some ruthless action is taken to bring them into law and order nothing will change the current disastrous situation. Unless we as a nation are prepared to correct our basics and establish "rule of law" for all we are leading to further disasters
The author should know the answer to the question he poses. Answer Musharraf and his policies.
As usual, a very well written piece of prose. You are dead right that the "venom-spewing tree" must be uprooted and destroyed. Unfortunately, however, out of 13 recommended measures, not one seems to be directed to the root cause of the problem. Suicide bombings and carnage of innocents by the terrorists in Pakistan started after invasion of Afghanistan by the U.S., thereby facilitating entry and free hand for India and its spooks from RAW. Together with Northern Alliance, they set up training camps and fake Consulates and started sending trained terrorists to Baluchistan and the frontier region. Elimination of these camps and fake Consulates is "what should be done'', if we want to permanently get rid of this evil in our midst.
Samjota Express case, a glaring example of state sponsored terrorism resulting in massacre of innocent Pakistanis, seems to have been forgotten even though there is clear evidence available but our rulers want to keep relations with India but at what cost?
When push comes to shove every politician blinks! The present PM has venemous cobras sitting next to him and he thinks they are defanged. Execution is not the answer but showing executive responsibility is the answer. Allready the PM is showing his "blinking" by appointing committes. He has two third majority in the Parliament. He has the country behind him—what more does he need. The terrorists should know "KIs kaum ko pokara hea" ( Ayub—1965)
As usual well written piece but I am surprise author has not mentioned about the Afghan Refugee menace and Gen Kayani's six years. Kayani should be quizzed and Afghans should be kicked out by setting a deadline.
Out of contest; ignored ground realities; depicts simplicity in the matter which is actually not that simple. A perpetual resolute action with a loooooooong term plan is needed. Can we wait; are we that patient? We need to be.
well-written and eye-opener for the lazy-bum and impotent politicians of Pakistan especially Nawaz Sharif.
Traitor Musharraf must be put to death due to his policies.
Shut your ugly mouth.
Who is responsible for Peshawar carnage? People from all walks of life ask each other. In reply wise people say it is the government, rulers and security agencies. Elaborating further with arguments they say Pakistan is a safe place for terrorists from all over the world. They are well trained and having backing from locals. They select a target and attack at a time and place of their choice. Government and its agencies have completely failed to counter terrorism. Some argue that all security agencies are employed on security duty with rulers, their cronies, government officials and other installations, Dharnas, religious processions. There is no one left for protection of common citizens, children schools. They are the easy victims of terrorist to create panic and harassment among the people. Rulers on the other hand are engaged in battle either for gaining power or strengthening their hold on power and they have no time to focus on issues of public importance like power and Sui gas load shedding, inflation, inflated utility bills, increased transport fares, problem of shortage of transport, deteriorating communication infrastructure. They give priority to collecting wealth through fair and unfair means. Local administration and police are not less than terrorists for the poor public. They involve the poor in false cases and extort money with torture. They have now started to change cases of civil nature to criminal ones by falsely applying section 406, 471, 420 and 468 of Pakistan Penal Code. They also commit robberies at night and snatch money and mobiles from passengers. Some other say that after every tragic incident rulers hold meetings, form committees to evolve plan to control terrorism but as the time passes these exercises are put on backburner. Similarly they vow to eliminate terrorism and claim that terrorists cannot demoralize them with such cowardly acts rather these acts strengthen their resolve further to fight terrorism.
" who killed our children " ? WE did ! Gen M policies ? wrong ! it was Gen Zia, thanks to him, it was his policy which brought in more than 3 million Afghan refugees, Klashinkovs, drugs & Talibans was his baby made in consultation with USA & Saudi Arabia ( watch Ms Clinton on youtube where she concedes that Al Qaeda & Talibans where a collective decision ). So, it would not be fair to blame Gen M. Many people do so due to mis-infomation by certain media resulting in creation of obsession. Why Gen Zia, is therefore, conveniently forgotten ?
If for the sake of argument, we blame Gen M, then the democratically govt had 6 years to roll back & change those policies, why they did not ? So, please if something is wrong, it becomes incumbent on the incoming govt to roll back any policy that they deem are against the interest of the country. It is immature politics & diplomacy if our political leaders are unable to change those policies that run contrary to our national interest, instead of pushing the dirt under the carpet by passing the buck This does not show statesmanship. And that is exactly what many people are doing by commenting on this article, blame Gen M. Do some soul searching. What these politicians did after the Peshawar mishap ? call APC & made a committee ? does such a tragic incident need such a 1 day meet ? while, the dharnas got 2 weeks of trashing in the Parliament ? is this called show of maturity ? come on guys wake up from the long slumber, shake your conscience & do something, so that another tragic incident does not happen. We had intel info in this regard & many more in the past, is this the fault of Gen M, that these intel info was not taken seriously in many cases of incidents ? It is WE, WE killed these poor kids. We have no accountability as to why intel infos not taken seriously, do we have any culture to own it ? do we have the culture to morally resign ? NO! so, WE killed these kids & many more like them for past 6 years.
Excellent I totally agree.
10. "Kick out pro-terrorist mullahs from all mosques and madrassas." …… and publicly hang them all on summary judgements!
Very intriguing indeed:- I have been posting these words on my FB page for weeks, I have used similar words in my comments right here (with none noticing). Today a top columnist of Pakistan is using the same words. He is a well-respected intellectual. Kayani (Justice, not the General) wrote, whole body is wounded, how many bandages would I need? A purge of these Mullahs, closing of madrassas will not be easy (case in point is Lal Masjid); you have to have an alternative. What Zia planted is deep rooted; someone will have to handle this issue very tactfully. It is bound to start a civil war & cutting off the relations with the financiers of these criminals. I do not see any one in the front row capable of doing it. PM is the heir of Zia, will he bring the badly needed changes? I don’t think so.
Pakistan is ready for a civil war. It is ironic I am pleading for a war, I of all the people who are against the wars. Let us not call it a war, call it a very precise laser surgery, destroying all the cancerous cells. At this point I am sure Pakistan alone cannot do it. I doubt if Pakistan has the intelligence & the resources to do it alone. It is said a sinking person tries to grab even a straw thinking it might save him. It is the time for Pakistanis to seek the help of the global superpowers (after all each one of them have been zinged by the criminals). Seeking this help & the responses will show us, who is serious & sincere, and who is not. In the end it will be up to Pakistanis to decide the future of their country. Gangrene some time needs amputation to save the life. Personally it is very painful for me, I was born with Pakistan, I saw how it was severed in 1971, and now in my old age I am seeing an existential threat to the existence of Pakistan. Even if the current tragedy is forgotten tomorrow & it becomes an old news, the country will not be the same. It will be the ghost of Pakistan.
We all know who did it.
But the question is "Why this was not blocked". Right after five days, You got 1B dollars from IMF and now USA is also going to give you 1B USD for the year 2015 for "well done" job.
Taliban have been frequently active in this massaccre but why are we keeping our mouth shut for those hidden forces that provide logistic, and military support to these Taliban. Why dont we speak anythng against India and USA on TV channels knowing the fact that they are our real enemies. What is the objective of many Indian consulates across te Pak-Afghan border areas. WHat is the role of indi in Baluchistan ?. Look at all these facts first.
If it is our war which is true in spirit, why we expect reward and support from USA then.
I wish if any politician or military men speaks truth on media now while still blaming on each other failures.
Munafaqat is dominating in our culture and we the ordinary citizen are paying price for this.
Yes we all know who did it..latest reports say the terrorists spent the night at a nearby mosque?…and eyewitnesses say as the mass murderers opened fire on the children, they shouted allahu ackbar?…yes we all know who is responsible…and it has nothing to do with the USA or india…confused fools like you who cannot accept this ugly truth about Muslims are part of the problem by spreading misinformation about the west as the enemy… which is completely untrue…
One main reason for this whole national dilema of war of terror is our Fake leadership. A fake leadership emerged from fake elections will never ever deliver. They are here in the Parliamet only for themselves for filling their own pockets with USD. __All this leadership is sitting inthe parliament to discuss for formation of committees, and for commissions. __Our leadership has been failed on many fronts, our judiciary system is on the brink of catastrophy, our police system has been demoralized badly (Gullu Butt police culture), our other departments like health is filled with bribary and with supply of fake medicines, Railway and PIA are non-existant now a days. There is no energy and no gas supply in the country. Educational institutes are supplying fake degress to countrymen. Thousands (even millions) are jobless now adays and youngsters are on the street for doing nothing but looks very busy.__Why there was no joint parliament meeting now after this incident ?. Did our leadership realized the importance of a joint parliament meetiing ?. They call joint parliament meeting only when Qadri comes in the country an dspecially in Islamabad. A thousand shame on this parliament .__Is this not a failed state ? If not , then what is defination of failed state ?
And yet you and millions support Imran Khan, the biggest Taliban apologist of them all. Talk about hypocrisy and double standards!!
I wish these fake politicians or leaders as a result of fake elections should be hanged first before we hang terrorists since we are suffering from their fake policies. It is better if we hang both politicians and terrorists simultaneously in D-Chowk.
The ordinary citizens are the victems of their policies. Why after 7 days, they havn't called yet any joint parliament session. They only call joint session when Dr. Qadri or Imran Khan appear in the D-Chowk. What a shame democracy.
What is the major outcome of these politicians during last 60 years, because of that we should feel safe at home ?
What about Gull Butt, Uzair Baloch, militant wing of Jamaat Islami and of Maulana Diesel, and target killers of various political parties in Karachi ?. My point is that all these political parties possess hidden militias and use them as political instrument when needed. Shame on these politicians again.
A thorough cleaning at home is needed beside hanging terrorists.
Humayun Gauhar, undoubtedly a patriot put is heart out calling spade a spade. But what next? The hugely funded fifth column is bent on maintaining the status-quo providing political vultures round the clock help to retain power. The question is why all this at the stake of country's survival.
Humauyun Gauhar forgot to blame Mush the Bush Poodle who created this Good and Bad Taliban category apart from handing over N Waziristan to TTP. Had Mush or Kayani the courage and professional integrity to take Taliban head on, thousands off innocent lives could have been saved, including these innocent children, robbed of their lives. It was the choice of Raheel, whom Kayani did not want to succeed him, who had courage to launch an operation. May we rid this country of thes enemies of Pakistan, who attack and kill unarmed citizens, and justify this in name of religion, which preaches peace and does not permit killing of civilians even in war.
Our hearts grieve for the families of these poor children. The whole world weeos for them. Until Dec 15 the author did not believe that Pakistan had lots of terrorists. He is still blaming India even though the police and the TTP have identified the perpetrators as local Pakistanis. Living in denial is not going to solve the problem.
Just read some more of Mr Gauhar’s columns. Readers, it is difficult to take somebody seriously who seems blinded by his hate for USA, Israel and India. Look in the mirror before blaming everybody else. And stop hating others if you don’t want them to hate you.
take this tragedy, as a turning point for Pakistan.
The "Pak establishment" created these Mujahidins / terrorists to undermine India, and wrest kashmir from India. training camps, weapons, logistics support and finance. The snakes they fed, are now bitting the hand which fed them.
pak has lost so much for their mad obsession to take Kashmir, thet they have neglected every other aspect of nation building. East pakistan is lost, education, law & order is crippled. The jihadi's now want to take control of pakistan, with sharia law. madness has further desended, by sectarian killings. All religeous minorities are targetted, and attacked / killed.
I strongly suggest, put your obsession with Kashmir on the back bench and start. sorting out the problems within what's left of Pakistan.
Readers, please read Kamran Shafi’s column today in the Express Tribune. Is Mr Gauhar on Musharraf’s psyroll? It is people like these two gentlemen that has resulted in Pakistan being what it is today. Mr Gauhar lives in his hate filled strategic dreamland while Musharraf, known foe being an outright liar, is a laughing stock all over the world. The silent majority of Pakistanis should speak up and make these people irrelevant.
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