Pakistan is condemned to fight and win its existential war against terrorism
We heard for years the voices that called for negotiating with the murderers and find a ‘peaceful settlement’ of issues at hand. Well, they too eventually learned that one can never negotiate with those who just want to ‘take’ and are reluctant to ‘give’
‘Only the dead have seen the end of war,’ said Plato a couple of millennia ago. For the alive, war is a supreme, ever-present and gory reality that looms large over all that is near and dear to billions.
World history is dotted with countless wars that fed on mankind’s blood and guts, many of them were fought between states on causes at best Lilliputian. Man has waged war against man, under the impression, ‘kill or be killed’. The first half of 20th century saw two global wars that wiped out millions of bloodlines and reduced hundreds of cities to mere rubble of cement, bricks and steel. When nukes were summoned to end World War II by bringing Japan to the negotiation table, all humanity learned that the next war on similar scale would pronounce the end of all things alive and breathing.
Enter the Post WW-II era where billions of people lived and died under the pall of impeding atomic warfare. The world became a stage where scores of nations suspected each other of secret ploys and leaders plotted incessantly to counter possible ‘evil designs’ afoot in neighbouring states.
Pakistan was created after WWII. The nascent state had to deal with all the pangs and cramps that existence exacts. While gaining years, the country fought two full blown wars against its conventional foe, India. Since Pakistan tested it’s nukes successively in the second last year of the 20th century, this ‘balance of terror’ put a lid on chances of another war involving good old infantry, armored and artillery.
Centuries are shaped by the events that hug them as they begin. The first year of 21st century saw 9/11, the fall of twin towers in New York proved to be an event that divided the world along post and pre 9/11 lines many decades to come.
In our day and age, the chances of conventional, old-fashioned war between two independent states have diminished to a great degree. The new enemy that we now have to lock horns with is the curse of terrorism perpetrated by myriad groups and factions. These hoards driven by passion for a heavenly utopia are the new enemy.
We, the people of Pakistan, were given a choice. We either had to align with the mighty, sole super power America and root out the midgety, myopic lot who wanted to put the clock back and drag us all back to the era of dungeons and divine retribution or turn into silent victims witnessing our own obliteration.
We chose the former to avoid the latter. Since then, Pakistan has lost thousands of lives, the economy has suffered loss of billions of dollars and every now and then we hear of a carnage that claims many innocents whose only sin is that they happened to be at a place where things quickly went awry.
We heard for years the voices that called for negotiating with the murderers and find a ‘peaceful settlement’ of issues at hand. Well, they too eventually learned that one can never negotiate with those who just want to ‘take’ and are reluctant to ‘give’.
Finally, our boots and suits took a decision to go all out against these merchants of death in every corner, every crevice of Pakistan. Operation Zarb-e-Azb was launched on June 15th, 2014 to exterminate the terrorists of all stripes without fear or favour. The state had enough table talks with murderers masquerading as deliverers of divine ilk.
In past two years, since the inception of Zarb-e-Azb, there is a sharp decline in terror attacks, intensity and the instances of bomb blasts have decreased and our cities and towns today are lot safer than they were before the operation.
Both the civvies and khakis contributed their bit to make sure that Pakistan be rid of the menace that is gnawing at its very essence. Thousands of Intelligence Based Operations (IBOs) have been held all over the country. The combing operations in Karachi, Shawal, Waziristan, FATA and other parts of country are also underway.
Now that Operation Zarb-e-Azb is entering its final phase the efforts to rehabilitate the IDPs, TDPs and those who suffered hugely and irreparably must spruce up and be carried out with the same zeal government showed during operation.
Our first battle maybe over, still we have a war to win. We are yet to win battles on following fronts. We have to win the battle of narratives, the terrorists get a steady supply of gullible young men because the narrative they paddle promises things in the hereafter that are beyond the reach of many in here-and-now. Secondly, we have to include those on the fringes in economic activity and see to it that they have a share and stake worth standing and fighting for. Thirdly, we must make sure that law will be given precedence over all exigencies, be them of any nature or hue.
Unfortunately, we can’t afford to utter what Julius Caesar could. There is no ‘Veni, Vedi, Vici’ moment for us. We came and spent decades seeing matters going from bad to worse. We have to conquer all that is responsible for the rot we are in. In a nutshell, dearest sirs and ma’ams, we are condemned to win all the battles, on all the fronts or else we’ll lose the only war that counts.