And quick fixes
Ch Nisar believes that with himself presiding over the interior ministry everything is hunky-dory in the country. Living in a world of his own he has wished away all terrorist networks in Pakistan. This despite only ten days back Punjab home Minister Shuja Khanzada having been killed along with 14 others in Punjab, the relatively peaceful province of the country. An enquiry committee set up by the chief minister has concluded meanwhile that the attack was carried out by a Punjabi terrorist supported by a local network. Who killed or injured several Hazara Shi’a, police officers and soldiers in Quetta and Turbat this month? Who is conducting terror attacks in Karachi? It is odd to insist in the presence of this incriminating evidence that no terrorist network is left capable of operating in Pakistan.
One welcomes Nisar’s promise to end sectarianism. But can it be eliminated in six months, as he claims, without an Aladin’s lamp? Terrorist attacks are conducted by those with an extremist mindset. The mindset gives birth to hatred which expresses itself in terrorist attacks. One can arrest or kill thousands of terrorists but the extremist mindset will continue to create new generations of terrorists who will look for an opportunity to strike back. Nisar has no plan to launch a prolonged and patient campaign to inculcate tolerance and accommodation in society. The PML-N leadership is after quick fixes that must produce some ‘concrete’ results, even if they are short-lived, to present them as an achievement to voters before the 2018 elections. Nothing is being done therefore to eradicate the root cause.
The interior minister would like everyone to believe that while under the PPP the relations between the government and the army were sour, these are ideal under the PML-N government. If this is so why should he object to discussions on the matter in public or to giving out what he calls “reckless opinions on the subject”?
