Deconstructing an ideology of extremism
Pakistan is perceived as the world’s most dangerous country; a nation with a severe socioeconomic crisis, a country with the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world, and with political leadership that has not yet reached a consensus regarding their policy against terrorism. Yasir Pirzada’s ‘Bayane ki Jang’ is a compilation of his work that provides an analytical approach towards Pakistan’s ‘War on Terror’.
As the title suggests, the book highlights the differences in narratives of the stakeholders involved in the fight against terrorism in Pakistan. The author begins with narrating the period that faced the initiation of extremist attacks and tries to find the cause that led Pakistan towards its downfall.
The writer pens down an insightful series of arguments countering this point of view throughout several chapters of the book.
A majority of Pakistanis believe that frequent US drone attacks in Pakistan’s territory are the cause of terrorism, as a result, Taliban carry suicide attacks to avenge deaths of innocent citizens.
US drone strikes can remotely target terrorist networks in far-away locations. Taliban, however, target women, children, religious minorities and Pakistan’s security forces instead of the responsible authorities concerning drone attacks.
The writer believes that the main cause of brewing terrorism in the region is not due to drone attacks but because of the nation’s failure of settling over an effective policy against terrorism.
According to the writer, most religious factions of our society agree with the Taliban’s ideology regarding the implementation of Sharia Law in the country. Taliban’s narrative promotes religious extremism to end the injustice in the society, to curb poverty in the region and to initiate the ‘Khilafat movement’ after demolishing democracy.
However, the implementation of Sharia Law in areas under Taliban’s reign proves this ideology to be futile.
The country is divided between ‘Taliban apologists’ and ‘detractors’. The writer uses a sardonic tone to discuss the narratives of Taliban apologists who continue to press on negotiating with the militants and offering incentives to the insurgents.
Taliban apologists support what they believe and oppose the people they are against. The Taliban opponents are the silent minority of people in Pakistan who publicly oppose their actions and ideology. The reason why terrorism continues to be a major threat to Pakistan is because the nation is torn between the decision to whether fight the militants in the region or to hold negotiations and make an effort to live in peace together under the same roof.
Until all parties reach an agreement on the policy against terrorism, this problem will continue to destabilise us and the US will not stop conducting the drone attacks that breach our territory and violate our sovereignty.
The book contains balancing and convincing arguments and evaluates the role of the forces in Pakistan that have conflicting narratives regarding terrorism. It is difficult to state whether the book introduces several new ideas or not while eliminating the existing prejudices.
To conclude, the writer explains that the most effective way to curb terrorism in Pakistan to first settle on a unanimous decision on whether we accept Taliban as ‘one of our own’ or as the enemy.
The categorisation of these terrorists as ‘Good Taliban’ and ‘Bad Taliban’ needs to end in order to once and for all destruct the ideology that continues to breed extremism in Pakistan.
Title: Bayane ki Jang
Written by: Yasir Pirzada
Pages: 300
Publisher: Dost Publications
Awesome review!
Much better than readingthe whole book.
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