This country is fighting war against terrorists but there seems to be no strategy to crush them with full force of state and restore supremacy and writ of laws, where in the words of T Roosevelt “no man is above the law and no man is below it, nor do we ask any man’s permission when we ask him to obey it.”
When two terrorists exploded pressure cooker bombs on 15 April, 2013, during Boston Marathon killing three and injuring 264 people, whole Watertown County was shut-down, till second surviving criminal was hunted down on 19 April. For terrorism to be eliminated it requires tough laws and stringent measures, including temporary suspension of few fundamental rights to tackle it. In USA, where freedom of expression, movement and carrying of arms are guaranteed by the constitution, they enacted Patriot Act, formed powerful Homeland Security, free from bureaucratic and political interference, following 9/11 incident. We have had several of 9/11s where thousands of citizens have been brutally killed and yet vested interests which have reaped bonanza from criminal economy where target killings, extortion and kidnapping for ransom has become almost an industry, are bent upon obstructing adopting tough measures citing constitutional rights which these very criminals have denied to citizens.
Sovereignty of Pakistan and its very survival depends upon winning war against terrorism, and it is constitutional obligation of executive and all public office holders to protect lives and property of all citizens. Every political party, religious group and individual is required to ensure supremacy of constitution and submit to laws, and this cannot be a subject of political negotiations, nor is there a need for absolute consensus since it has been established by Supreme Court that few specific political parties and religious groups are involved in violence and crimes. How can Maulana Abdul Aziz have courage to publicly support TTP, declared as enemy following launch of Zarb-e-Azb? Nobody, whoever he may be, is more important than the state of Pakistan, especially in times of war.
ALI MALIK
Lahore
Pakistan's zero tolerance policy against terrorism is questionable given its reluctance to take action against Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the perpetrators of the Mumbai terrorist attack, a US expert has said.
"How will Pakistan implement its new zero tolerance policy for extremism in the Punjab, where the Lashkar maintains its base?" wrote Michael Krepon, co-founder of the Stimson Centre, in an op-ed in Arms Control Wonk.
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