Daily Times

The slow but steady barrage of tweets indicated that something big had happened. Then there were a few gloating and tweeting at the same time. My timeline was filled with confirmations from all credible news sources of the world. A high value target became the victim of the latest drone strike in Pakistan. Another wanted terrorist, who had openly declared war against the state, was no more. The folks who were rejoicing for all the right reasons must be reminded that gloating over someone’s death — no matter how cruel or miserable that character may be — is not the sign of a learned and God-fearing person. The death of anyone — of an evil man or a saint — is a grim reminder of the uncertainty of life. How quickly it all ends, whether by an illness, a bullet, a bomb and, for some, perhaps via a missile.

Our former sporting legend, Mr Imran Khan was extremely perturbed and upset with the news. He was declaring it a deliberate attempt by the Americans to sabotage the so-called ‘peace process’. Never mind that despite the PML-N government’s redundant pandering, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had categorically rejected the possibility of any such development. But the Interior Minister, who is supposedly responsible for the safety of millions of Pakistani citizens, called this a “murder of the peace process”. The learned clerics of the ulema council chimed in with their condemnation and echoed the sentiments of Mr Khan and the Interior Minister.

To the ones who seem to be relieved that a monster is gone, there is a very ugly but real reminder. This is a hydra. If one head is cut off, the new successor comes in within a few days. Then that new name becomes the new symbol of terror to reckon with. Retaliation and retribution follow and the cycle of endless terror continues unabated.

No matter what evidence is provided to enlighten our misguided folks about the cruelty of Hakeemullah Mehsud, it will be a futile effort as according to a good number of our folks, he was a great Islamic warrior, thwarting the efforts of the ‘evil, imperialistic America’. If you were to ask these people, did the ‘evil America’ march into Pakistani territory, they will give you the logic of Afghanistan being their brotherly nation. To the contrary, most of the people from our land went to Afghanistan to participate in the so-called ‘jihad’. If you were to show the gruesome footage of the bomb blasts at the very locations within the country, or the execution of an unarmed Colonel Imam, the same folks will call all of that perpetrated by the CIA to malign their Muslim brethren.

The issue at hand is the inability of our folks to decipher between right and wrong, solely because they see things through a very narrow prism of religion. I strongly believe that if Mehsud or his TTP were Hindus, Jews or Christians, these same people would be after the armed forces to eradicate them with the fullest possible force. The problem lies in our ability to accept the fact that Muslims as a whole are suffering from a grand malaise of delusion, where our collective intelligence has degraded to the extent that we seek heroes in demons.

As far as our peace loving politicians are concerned, to them one can only say that the idea of peace can only take root when the state negotiates peace from a position of strength. When the state literally surrenders to terrorists, it is capitulation and the worst form of surrender. Please, for God’s sake, do not confuse the term ‘peace’ with that kind of impotent behaviour. Next, for God’s sake, do rename FATA as FUTA, where the U stands for ‘Unaffiliated’. It is unaffiliated in the sense that the federal government cannot exert its influence, and the cry of its so-called ‘sovereignty’ is of no use. If the government cannot get its writ established, then it loses despite the hollow condemnation when others strike within its territories.

Now to the folks who think that one person’s death is a major setback to the peace process, then those folks are either naive or simply Taliban apologists. Such processes are not person-dependent; if that was the case, the world would have come to a screeching halt every time a leader of a nation or a conglomerate died. The business of life goes on. To tell you the truth, it sure makes one wonder if these people are second guessing their ability to advance their own initiatives as in the back of their minds they know it is an exercise in futility. To sum everything up, the state has to take control. If it means the use of force to bring order to the nation, then so be it. When the country is cleansed of all who want to wreak havoc, sovereignty will stand restored. I can assure you, it would be the end of the drone debate, because no drones will be required at that point by anyone.

The slow but steady barrage of tweets indicated that something big had happened. Then there were a few gloating and tweeting at the same time. My timeline was filled with confirmations from all credible news sources of the world. A high value target became the victim of the latest drone strike in Pakistan. Another wanted terrorist, who had openly declared war against the state, was no more. The folks who were rejoicing for all the right reasons must be reminded that gloating over someone’s death — no matter how cruel or miserable that character may be — is not the sign of a learned and God-fearing person. The death of anyone — of an evil man or a saint — is a grim reminder of the uncertainty of life. How quickly it all ends, whether by an illness, a bullet, a bomb and, for some, perhaps via a missile.

Our former sporting legend, Mr Imran Khan was extremely perturbed and upset with the news. He was declaring it a deliberate attempt by the Americans to sabotage the so-called ‘peace process’. Never mind that despite the PML-N government’s redundant pandering, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had categorically rejected the possibility of any such development. But the Interior Minister, who is supposedly responsible for the safety of millions of Pakistani citizens, called this a “murder of the peace process”. The learned clerics of the ulema council chimed in with their condemnation and echoed the sentiments of Mr Khan and the Interior Minister.

To the ones who seem to be relieved that a monster is gone, there is a very ugly but real reminder. This is a hydra. If one head is cut off, the new successor comes in within a few days. Then that new name becomes the new symbol of terror to reckon with. Retaliation and retribution follow and the cycle of endless terror continues unabated.

No matter what evidence is provided to enlighten our misguided folks about the cruelty of Hakeemullah Mehsud, it will be a futile effort as according to a good number of our folks, he was a great Islamic warrior, thwarting the efforts of the ‘evil, imperialistic America’. If you were to ask these people, did the ‘evil America’ march into Pakistani territory, they will give you the logic of Afghanistan being their brotherly nation. To the contrary, most of the people from our land went to Afghanistan to participate in the so-called ‘jihad’. If you were to show the gruesome footage of the bomb blasts at the very locations within the country, or the execution of an unarmed Colonel Imam, the same folks will call all of that perpetrated by the CIA to malign their Muslim brethren.

The issue at hand is the inability of our folks to decipher between right and wrong, solely because they see things through a very narrow prism of religion. I strongly believe that if Mehsud or his TTP were Hindus, Jews or Christians, these same people would be after the armed forces to eradicate them with the fullest possible force. The problem lies in our ability to accept the fact that Muslims as a whole are suffering from a grand malaise of delusion, where our collective intelligence has degraded to the extent that we seek heroes in demons.

As far as our peace loving politicians are concerned, to them one can only say that the idea of peace can only take root when the state negotiates peace from a position of strength. When the state literally surrenders to terrorists, it is capitulation and the worst form of surrender. Please, for God’s sake, do not confuse the term ‘peace’ with that kind of impotent behaviour. Next, for God’s sake, do rename FATA as FUTA, where the U stands for ‘Unaffiliated’. It is unaffiliated in the sense that the federal government cannot exert its influence, and the cry of its so-called ‘sovereignty’ is of no use. If the government cannot get its writ established, then it loses despite the hollow condemnation when others strike within its territories.

Now to the folks who think that one person’s death is a major setback to the peace process, then those folks are either naive or simply Taliban apologists. Such processes are not person-dependent; if that was the case, the world would have come to a screeching halt every time a leader of a nation or a conglomerate died. The business of life goes on. To tell you the truth, it sure makes one wonder if these people are second guessing their ability to advance their own initiatives as in the back of their minds they know it is an exercise in futility. To sum everything up, the state has to take control. If it means the use of force to bring order to the nation, then so be it. When the country is cleansed of all who want to wreak havoc, sovereignty will stand restored. I can assure you, it would be the end of the drone debate, because no drones will be required at that point by anyone.