The root cause of most problems
Some weeks ago, Charsadda underwent the same horrendousness tragedy that Peshawar had to go through back in December 2014. Almost a year back, a colossal terrorist attack was carried out on Army Public School in Peshawar that relentlessly killed one hundred and forty four students and staff. The same episode was repeated at the Bacha Khan University, Charsadda. After these horrific attacks, the anti-terrorist activities, being carried out by the government of Pakistan, sparked controversy at the hands of the people belonging to the upper echelons including some top-notch analysts. However, what must be kept in mind at this point in time is that the war on terrorism is not simply a T20 match. Its results cannot be decided through a 40-over match. There are a significant number of dimensions attributed to this war that must be analysed systematically before we arrive at any concrete conclusion.
Moreover, a few preliminary questions need to be answered as well before we delve deeper into the technicalities of this war. Is the amount of force employed by the government of Pakistan enough in proportion to the number of terrorists? Furthermore, is the democratic government doing everything that it can do in its capacity? What is army’s plan of action in the areas where it is allowed to carry out its activities? If we observe the situation intimately, Pakistan Army is already doing more than it is even supposed to do and that too by operating within the constraints inflicted upon it. However, terrorism has engulfed Pakistan to such an extent that it cannot be uprooted so quickly. Nevertheless, what Pakistan Army has succeeded in achieving in such a short span of time is highly commendable.
Terrorism has plagued the country for so many decades now. It has become exceedingly clear that anti-terrorist activities alone will not be able to eradicate this terror campaign. Pakistan is currently confronted with two problems of gigantic magnitude: falling economy and debilitating education system. There are few madrassas that have played a huge role in inciting their students to violence. However, there is more to it than meets the eye.
Pakistan is an economically weak country. Majority of the people, consequently, do not have enough money to send their kids to proper schools. Resultantly, the poor, innocent kids are left at the mercy of these madrassas in return for some so-called religious knowledge and full stomachs. This very same phenomenon was exhibited in an international documentary a few years ago. It put forth the teaching strategies of a few madrassas in the Southern Punjab that focus on inculcating hatred against certain groups of society. However, the documentary was not given the requisite amount of attention and the consequences of this negligence are in front of us today. Resultantly, madrassas have become an epicentre for spreading hatred. There are most certainly a number of madrassas that do not follow the similar trend. However, the entire madrassa system has turned into an intertwined mesh that it is immensely difficult to discern the difference between the two kinds.
Moreover, the lessons taught in these madrassas leave a rather long lasting impact on the children studying there. Furthermore, there are some material/financial dimensions to indoctrination process in madrassas.
An individual’s financial circumstances are almost always reflective of his behaviour. A full stomach, by default, makes a person more polite and considerate, as is the case of the people of rich countries. Today, if we wish to uproot extremist ideas from our society, we will need a paradigm shift in the mindsets of the Pakistanis. This can only be achieved by improving our current economic situation. It is about time that we, as a country, focus more on economic development. However, there are several prerequisites to economic turnaround in any country.
It has been 18 years since the last population census. Consequently, we are not fully aware of our true poverty situation. This has caused a huge gap in the level of actual poverty and development strategies. People are dying of hunger every day. There is shortage of power and gas. Moreover, the number of protestors has been on the rise as well. Government needs to step up its game and we, as people, need to play our part as well in order to overcome the shortage of energy. It is beyond the scope of my understanding as to why our government is so hesitant in asking Iran for energy resources. Instead, it prefers to get LNG on much higher rates from Qatar. Government’s claim that it would be cheaper than the natural gas attained/obtained from next door neighbour (Iran) defies logic. These issues need to be resolved if the country is to prosper economically which, in turn, will improve our education standards. Increased education standards will then automatically eliminate the plague of extremism.
