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Zero tolerance against Taliban mindset
By Irrum GulAs long as the good citizens do not have the guts to speak out, the inbred evil inside of everyone will keep on increasing. What is the next step for this evil, these bad guys? Go to a hospital and kill newborns? Unbelievable insanity and delusion. When did we hear ordinary Pakistanis raising their voice against such shameful acts? When did the clergy express strong objections to killing in the name of religion? I would like to see the mothers of all these 132 children unite and change Pakistan. First step for them could be to change their husband’s mindset that sponsoring terrorism will help Pakistan.
The massacre in Peshawar is the moment of truth, the moment for Pakistan to decide whether to begin breathing life back into itself, or be condemned to missing another chance at redemption. Even as Peshawar is still burying its children, some commentators are, inevitably, preaching: “Maybe Pakistan has learned its lesson and maybe it will now stop differentiating between good and bad Taliban.”
Although the Peshawar attack has created a moment of consensus in Pakistan but unfortunately, this ‘moment’ is also not new. Pakistan has been brutalized by every manner of attack since 2007, when the Pakistani Taliban first emerged. Hospitals, schools, supermarkets, mosques, churches, bus stops, Sufi shrines and military installations, no venue has been spared.
In the past, the consensus has fallen apart quickly. Mostly because the dark, medieval, voices of terror have guns (and suicide bombers), and advocates of a modern, pluralist Pakistan do not.It is not only a tragedy but a huge question for the entire nation. What mindset is engraved and live parallel to us? When will we decide to deduce that those sympathizers who live probably next door to us are not Pakistanis?
If we know the perpetrator within us why are we then unable to expose their real faces and restrict and ban them from their activities? Why are we unable to eliminate them from our society when we know that they are dangerous and detrimental for our safety, security, prosperity and reputation around the world?
The answer to all the above questions is that, it is a fusion of corruption and extremism. Corruption created by politicians through bureaucrats and wild Islamic preachers created extremism. The bitter truth here is that the solution to these things is not very simple. We need a fairer and clearer judicial system that practically implements everything it preaches, and this is a little hope for a long term solution. The question is, who will do this? Would any party have that priority? No, it’s you and I, who have to change for that bigger change.
It is never too late to take action but even if we start today, we must clearly identify our Mullah enemies, who not only are destroying the religion of peace but also are destroying the face of humanity. I say shame on the people who have even thought or planned such sick action against the future generation of Pakistan.
I usually raise my voice for the rights of minorities and women but now I have no words to explain my feelings and no words to condemn those ill minded mullahs who still are dividing humanity in the name of good and bad Taliban.
I think the action of hanging of terrorists is just a minor step, we cannot be barbaric in response to the acts of those sick-minded insane terrorists. I request that the terrorists who planned these attacks should be hunted down and brought to the streets of Peshawar as a public lesson for anyone who dares to take such drastic measures ever again. May Allah grant all the deceased a place in heaven and patience to their families and friends.
What Moulvi Abdul Aziz at the Lal Masjid suggests is not sane. At that time Pervez Musharraf raised his voice against these people and was criticized and now they say what he did was correct.It was right then and it is right even now. This is the same Moulvi who was caught in a burka fleeing the scene when Operation Lal Masjid was carried out.
One vital element missing from the long fight against the various Taliban groups that operate on both sides of the lawless Afghanistan-Pakistan border has been serious cooperation between the governments in Kabul and Islamabad.
The slaughter of 148 students and teachers by the Pakistani Taliban at a military-run school in Peshawar ought to change that. But will it? As Pakistan was consumed by shock and grief over the attack, the country’s army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, and the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence, Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar, moved quickly. They flew to Kabul on Wednesday to meet the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, and Gen. John Campbell, the commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani commanders were seeking Afghanistan’s help in locating the Taliban leaders who devised and carried out the massacre. A statement issued by the Pakistani military said Mr. Ghani had assured the Pakistanis that his government would cooperate. On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif insisted that from now on, “There will be no differentiation between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban.” But in the past that’s exactly what Pakistan has done and it has been a fool’s game.
Supporting extremism in any form is a losing proposition. To have some hope of ending brutal Taliban assaults, and the group’s larger goal of trying to bring down the state, Pakistan has to decide that all these terrorists are an existential threat and that Afghanistan can be an ally in combating them.
The truth is that the Taliban can be effectively opposed only by consensus-based counterinsurgency and counterterrorism policies with parliamentary control and oversight. The military operations need to be made transparent and there has to be a mechanism of accountability of the security forces.
Pakistan needs to strengthen its police by providing it with more resources, training and help with intelligence gathering and investigative skills. The country’s judicial system needs to be more independent of political interference. What’s more, Pakistan has to stop its contradictory and self-defeating policy of fighting some groups while providing political and social space to other similar groups. For example, while Pakistanis were uniting against the Taliban, the charity wing of banned outfits were involved in the rescue operation and blaming the US, India and Israel for the attack on the school.
There is also an urgent need for Pakistan to reform its education curriculum. The current curriculum promotes a narrow worldview and has been responsible for the radicalisation of successive generations of young people, providing a conducive environment for Talibanism and extremism to thrive. It encourages discrimination on the basis of religion and promotes intolerance and violence toward minorities.
Without drastic internal changes, the violence engulfing Pakistan and the region will only get worse. While the world stands with Pakistan, it is Pakistan’s job to help itself and its people. Now the time has come when we neither support nor want any Taliban mindset in our midst. Zero tolerance of the Taliban mindset is what should start now.
The writer is a women’s rights activist and can be reached at irrumgul@gmail.com
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk