Daily Times

Sir: There has been a state of ‘hollow war’ between the state of Pakistan and the various terrorist organisations since 2001. We took some right steps in Swat years later, but once again we are on the verge of appeasing these neo-fascist pseudo-Islamist factions.

All this melodrama reminds me of the appeasement policy of Neville Chamberlain during a few years prior to the outbreak of World War II. We are bleeding, we are being bombed to hell and all our Chamberlains seem to be concerned about is how to appease the Taliban and somehow, with some sort of sorcery perhaps, stop them from all this frenzy.

It will be for the first time in the history of modern states perhaps that a nuclear power has bowed down and given in to bullying terrorist bands.

Imran Khan and some other politicians are working hard to achieve ‘peace for our time’ like Chamberlain did once, but it seems we have no Winston Churchill who could tell them that Pakistan had been offered a choice “between war and shame. It has chosen shame, and will get war.”

Didn’t this happen in Swat already? We gave the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi what they wanted. And did it stop them? What is different with Waziristan? We are again trying to choose dishonour just to avoid war and in the end we will be dishonoured and get a war.

We need a Churchill. We need someone to tell us: ‘Gentlemen, We are at war because it is the only road leading to lasting peace.’ Are we going to live in this nightmare forever? Are we going to face this humiliation forever? Are we going to give in to those uneducated fanatics from Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and what not? Are we going to let them destroy us because ‘they have some of our own people fighting among their ranks?’

A tree cannot be cut down until an axe is provided with a wooden handle. Solution? Destroy the axe with the handle if you want to save your tree.

Afaq Hussain

Karachi