The year in review

Impressive advances, from science to militancy

Another year – 2014 – draws to a close. If you”re a person of science then this year did not disappoint. Those who thought, in 2013, that the discovery of the famous Higgs boson – or the God Particle – would dwarf the coming attractions in the foreseeable future were happily cured of their misgivings. Giant strides were made this year whether that be chips that mimic the human brain, or memories in mice made intelligible through laser control, or to crown it all: a spacecraft gliding through interstellar space and landing on a comet – a work of sci-fi fantasy made real. That’s the beauty of science – that ever evolving enterprise spurred by the imperishable spirit of honest inquiry into the nature of the sublime and the esoteric. Indeed, when it comes to science the arrow of time always points forward.

But then there are other realms where ordinary laws of morality and nature are put to the penultimate test. Where even the arrow time points the wrong way. And nowhere is this more fully visible than in the realm of militant Islam; that deeply mangled and ravaged other world frozen in some purgatory between past and present where the phantoms of humanity’s previous indiscretions continue to hunt and hound the unwitting. So while it true that this year has been remarkably kind to the land of science and reason, it has scarcely extended the same courtesy to these nether regions where ancient hatreds still gush and flow like volcanic matter and the fires of faith-based enthusiasms never cease to rage.

Closer to home in Pakistan things weren’t too sanguine either, or in other words, normalcy prevailed. In the middle of the year the Jinnah international airport was attacked by TTP. A big deal, but not so much when you consider that this country has had both its military and naval headquarters attacked by militants in the past

Yet what was uniquely different this year was the emergence of a new species of radicalism. Calling itself the Islamic State, this neo-radical militant outfit espouses a vision of life of such horrible grotesquery that even al-Qaeda finds itself relegated to a runner-up status before it. Earlier this year these IS militants swiftly introduced themselves to the global consciousness through a spate of some of the most gratuitous and vile actions conceivable ranging from publicly beheading of western journalists’ to the indiscriminate killing of religious minorities.

Similarly, in Nigeria, Boko Haram, another violent Islamic terrorist group, just recently kidnapped 276 online casino female students from the town of Chibok. And this doesn’t just end there. Apparently the tentacles of such crazed extremism have even spread to the calmer shores of places like Australia and Canada. There was recently the event of the Ottowa shooting where a recent Muslim convert shot dead a Canadian soldier. Or even more recently, the hostage crisis in Sydney, where an Islamic terrorist waving a black flag that bore the Shahada – statement of Islamic faith – held unsuspecting people hostage in a café and eventually ended up killing two of them.

Closer to home in Pakistan things weren’t too sanguine either, or in other words, normalcy prevailed. In the middle of the year the Jinnah international airport was attacked by TTP. A big deal, but not so much when you consider that this country has had both its military and naval headquarters attacked by militants in the past. However, more recently, TTP militants attacked an army run school in Peshawar killing 148 people, 132 of which were students between the ages of 12 and 16. Some are calling this Pakistan’s 9/11. Indeed, for many Pakistanis, this incident has doubtless been the single most violent and heinous attack committed by the radicals to date.

But amidst this macabre backdrop there was the odd flicker of optimism. Malala Yousafzai was awarded the Nobel peace prize for reminding the world of the mighty power of human will and affirming for everyone this great truth: that sometimes a high principle or ideal becomes so central to one’s being and so uncompromising in the face of an absolute tyranny that even death is forced to stop in tracks and withdraw silently.

No less inspiring was the bravery of 14 year old Aitzaz Hasan who sacrificed his life preventing a suicide bomber from entering his school of 2000 students in Hangu or for that matter the courage displayed by Chaudhry Aslam Khan (SP) who took the fight to the TTP militants and ended up losing his life in the process.

One hopes that across the world this growing radicalism of militant Islam has equally stirred up passions in the mainstream camp that has hitherto remained confused and complacent in its response, and that perhaps sometime from now we may look back upon these great tragedies of our day as the final spasms of a dying beast

These incidents are illustrative of a deeper sentiment running through the mainstream consciousness of the average Pakistani who is no longer afraid to be the next one who ‘takes the bullet’ for his/her people. This indefatigable spirit of defiance and resilience, of pushing back on the status quo and calling out evil for what it is, was no less visible when thousands from across the social strata joined Imran Khan’s dharna in Islamabad to avow his party’s central tenet – justice for all. Or even more recently, when thousands congregated at vigils and demonstrations across the country to condemn the TTP’s Peshawar carnage, demanding FIRs against known culprits while the ruling establishment, sharing the same sentiment, responded swiftly to this rising crescendo with TTP prisoner hangings and a declarative repudiation of the good Taliban bad Taliban narrative and a fervid ramping up of the military offensive (Zarb-e-Azb) in the heartland of the Taliban cancer.

One hopes that across the world this growing radicalism of militant Islam has equally stirred up passions in the mainstream camp that has hitherto remained confused and complacent in its response, and that perhaps sometime from now we may look back upon these great tragedies of our day as the final spasms of a dying beast.

Let us end this year with a firm resolve that the momentum gained in recent months will not abate; if not for ourselves, then at least for those children and the soldiers and countless others who we will be left behind as we enter the new year.

As Karl Popper rightly said “We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant”.