The more the government is trying to put the genie of terrorism back into the bottle, the larger it is getting, becoming intractable. We have been on the militants’ radar for three consecutive weeks now, getting more than 100 people killed so far. It could be the haphazard pick of the militants from their menu of enemies but sectarian violence creates quick schisms and leaves deeper wounds. It could also be a thought out strategy to engage the security forces on multiple fronts. It could be a drive to weaken the state’s resolve to fight militancy without discriminating between the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ terrorists. It could be all the above reasons combined. However, the issue of persisting terror-related attacks suggests that the government has still not touched many issues with the required vigour and resolve. The apex committees in all four provinces, regularly attended by the Prime Minister (PM) and the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), have been instructed to work full-time with the ambition to race ahead of each other. On the other hand, Operation Zarb-e-Azb is continuing, while the Pakistan army is hunting terrorists along the Pakistan-Afghan border with the help of the Afghan forces. Today, there is a seemingly different tack of relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan over terrorism. Pakistan’s Afghan ambitions, leading to an almost failed US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, has left both countries as losers. In a just appraisal, though, Pakistan emerges as a greater loser than its Afghan counterpart does because of the war becoming its own menace. On 9/11, we were a front-line state helping the US to remove this scourge from Afghanistan. By the end of this mission in December 2014, we were fighting our own war against terrorism. Until the Peshawar tragedy, the threat of terrorism was never felt in the ‘bones’ by the armed forces though. The 60,000 civilians killed in terror-related activities versus the 15,000 security forces killed, was simple arithmetic used to discuss and condemn the 50 or so shades of terrorism. If the government is responsible for showing negligence in setting forth a workable security policy, the armed forces can hardly be exonerated for their larger share of letting this genie out in the first place. Today, Pakistanis, of all hues and colours, are facing gunshots and explosions in the name of either sectarian violence or other forms of terrorism, emanating largely from the failed security policies espoused primarily by Pakistan’s armed forces. If now the army is nudging the Taliban living in Quetta to open up and accept dialogue with Kabul, it is because of the fear leaping out of the threat experienced in Peshawar on December 16, 2014. Let it be so; there is always a turning point, the so-called 9/11, which ushers a country into realism about its vulnerabilities, fears and threats. However, concentrating only on religious institutions to weed out militancy from Pakistan is but a fallacious attempt. Religion is responsible in Pakistan for promoting violent behaviour to restore what some consider the damaged face of Islam here. How can hate literature and perverted preachers generate a near garrison-like situation in a typical mosque and madrassa (seminary)? Unless weapons are made available at close reach and people are trained to use them, is it possible for madrassa recruits to use guns to kill others on the ground of takfir (apostatisation)? Because of freedom of speech several mosques in London indulge in speeches bordering on hate against other Islamic sects, without generating a kill and shoot situation. We had never heard of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), the Sunni Tehreek or the Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan type groups either forming or getting at the throat of others. The killings taking place in the west in the name of Islam are the result of skewed policies pursued by the US and its European allies in the Middle East. Nevertheless, sectarian violence in the war-torn countries of the Middle East shares the same logic of investment in weapons that applies to Pakistan. Pakistan’s intelligence agencies in the past have been hand-in-glove with religious organisations such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) to foment unrest in Kashmir in collaboration with Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT). Therefore, any act of violence against the Shias by the SSP and its sister organisation, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), has been tolerated. With the growing influence of al Qaeda and the Taliban, the elimination of Shias became easier. The state did not find it important to indulge with these groups on such wayside issues (Shia killings) as long as its main objective (confronting India’s presence in Afghanistan) was being served. The National Action Plan (NAP) and the ensuing legislation, the 21st Amendment, have not touched upon the movers and shakers of militancy in Pakistan. Sectarian violence in Pakistan is an offshoot of the jihadi snake that we nurtured in our backyard to sting India on Kashmir and Afghanistan. The Shia killings are a paid job, illustrative of the regional politics of the Saudis and Iranians. The problem is that the state has been standing idle doing nothing to stop this poison from spreading, neither through its foreign policy nor by amending the articles and clauses concerning religion in the Constitution. In 2012, a Pew global survey showed that 41 percent of Pakistanis consider Shias to be non-Muslim. The government’s courage is required here to change this mindset. If not, we will keep running after shadows. We do not need military operations as much as we need to operate upon the hearts of the people of this nation to cleanse the hatred they harbour against their own fellow Muslims. What an irony for the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The writer is a copywriter and a freelance journalist with an academic background in public policy and governance. She can be reached at marium042@gmail.com