Daily Times

Even a horror movie would feel inadequate compared to the carnage in the Army Public School, Peshawar. December 16 may become a fading memory as far as East Pakistan’s separation is concerned but will be a pinching memory for the shocking and numbing killing of 134 children and another 10 teachers and staff shot down in cold blood in the auditorium of the school where these budding 14 and 15-year-olds were being given a lecture, ironically on first aid. Everything about this incident makes one want to slump, cry and scream. What these families are going through is almost unimaginable and what each child and family going to schools is going through is unbearable. The government and state are responsible for this; that is an understatement but, at some level, we as citizens of this country are also part of this poisoning of hearts and minds that has taken place in the last few decades.

Some say that terrorism started after 9/11 and others say that Ziaul Haq sowed the seeds when he promoted religious groups to make himself power broker. Both may have some truth but the fact that both governments finally made way for the so-called democratic governments raises the question: why has no progress been made in undoing what the two dictators did? The truth of the matter is that governments, whether military or elected, with their own vested interests, can rarely take on more powerful forces than themselves. Thus, our policies traditionally have always been based on compromises in return for sustaining power rather than national interest. Military governments are too bothered about their unconstitutional status to worry about other issues and democratic governments show delivery failures and thus keep depending on foreign loans and grants.

The present tragedy has galvanised the whole nation into taking serious action against terrorist activities and there are some commendable steps being taken to immediately give a strong message to terrorists of the resolve that enough is enough. As immediate steps, calling an All Parties Conference (APC) and forming a national committee to form a plan are steps in the right direction. However, we have to be aware of the fact that, with these steps, problems may go under the surface for a while but may resurface if some long-term steps to uproot terrorism are not taken immediately. Some of these may involve the following:

We must identify the number and status of groups operating in Pakistan. According to various estimates, about 35 to 47 groups operate in Pakistan and many of them have the backing of not only our enemies but our friends as well. Some of them are said to be sponsored by India, others by Saudi Arabia, some are preserved to fight Pakistan’s proxy wars, others are nurtured to present counterfoils for terrorist attacks across the Afghan and Indian borders. Just like the concept of good and bad Taliban is ridiculous, the distinction of those creating war on Pakistan and those creating war on our enemies is ludicrous. There can be no partial and selective terrorist group cleansing just like there can be no partial and selective geographical counterterrorism operations.

It is an open secret how many groups operate from Punjab. Just focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, FATA or Balochistan will not solve the problem. Many of these groups are banned outfits that we all know have changed their names and are still carrying on their activities. This is why we see operations taking place in one place while terrorism keeps increasing in other places. In an interview for The Guardian a few days before Operation Zarb-e-Asb started, Rana Sanaullah claimed that there were 168 points in Punjab that were harbouring terrorists. Until and unless a non-discriminatory cleansing operation takes place, the war for rooting out this evil will be lost before it starts.

Another very important factor is to categorise the sympathiser, supporter and sponsor of these organisations and have a separate strategy to deal with each of them. Sympathisers are all those who believe in the so-called ‘noble’ cause. This not only means many of the religious clerics but many misdirected individuals from every class of our society who hail Mumtaz Qadri as a hero. To change their mindset an educative process of regulating mosques is needed. Till the early 1960s mosques were under the administrative control of the government and the imam had to have a qualification to be able to fulfill this position. This, being a very powerful mode of affecting the public thought process, needs to have a monitoring system and should be used to project the true spirit of Islam rather than misusing these institutions as a vehicle of political and personal agendas. Also, a national ulema conference needs to take place where Islam and its main elements regarding the killing of innocent people should come out as a major communiqué and then be publicised in education institutions.

For supporters of terrorism there needs to be a real search of those organisations that nurture and support terrorists by helping them in recruiting terrorists, training them and providing them with key information. These may include certain seminaries and non-profit organisations that, over time, have been known to harbour, brainwash and enable attacks. Similarly, sponsorship of terrorism is also a tricky issue but it is no secret that these attacks require a lot of money. Most of these terrorist leaders live in a way where their multiple wives and children enjoy a sheltered and comfortable life like Osama bin Ladin and Hakeemullah Masood. Similarly, in Jhang, Punjab most of these outlawed organisations have not only been operating unhindered but their members have been colluding with local politicians and police to create land mafias and become a law unto themselves. This financing, whether local or international, has to be traced and blocked to suffocate and limit their access to weaponry and communications equipment.

For terror to be dealt with, terror combaters have to be above board with absolutely only one agenda: doing whatever it takes to eliminate this evil. The burning question is: do all those who are yelling to stop this devastation really claim to be working with selfless devotion towards a practical solution or are they just playing to the public outrage gallery? What you need is leadership that has the courage to question the unquestionable status of the promoters of these groups and then have the will to take on a frontal war against them even at the cost of their own position, their own interests and most of all at the risk of their own public popularity.

The writer is an analyst and columnist and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com