Sir: There is a difference in how a strong and confident state tackles its rebels and how a weak country like Pakistan, which lacks resolve and remains in a confused state, succumbs to just one threatening letter and stops the hanging of convicts. We are putting the fate of our country at stake with such a weak leadership. Look at Iran: 16 rebels were executed the other day in reprisal after gunmen killed at least 14 guards near the border with Pakistan. The ambush happened overnight in the mountains of Sistan-Balochistan, a province in southeastern Iran. The province is home to a large community of minority Sunnis, unlike the rest of Shia-dominated Iran. The 14 border guards were reported as having been killed and, in retaliation, the Iranian authorities hanged 16 rebels held at a Zahidan prison.
Iran has spent millions of dollars to build a wall along lengthy stretches of its 1,700 km long border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Jundallah, a militant group, has launched attacks on civilians and officials in Sistan-Balochistan, including a December 2010 suicide bombing after which the Iranian authorities hanged 11 suspected members of Jundallah at Zahidan. Jundallah, whose leader Abdolmalek Rigi was hanged in June 2010, has been waging a deadly insurgency in southeastern Iran for almost a decade. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, in a decree, ordered his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli to take a series of steps in the aftermath of the terrorist attack, which resulted in the deaths of 14 Iranian border guards. In our country, we acquit hardcore prisoners and set them free to repeat their criminal acts. Our PM says our judges are afraid of convicting terrorists and our leaders are afraid of publicly condemning the Taliban. For fear of reprisals we do not sanction the hanging of prisoners convicted for heinous crimes. Our general officer commanding (GOC) of the army is eliminated and we do not take retaliatory action. Instead, we talk about negotiating with terrorists and call them stakeholders.
F Z KHAN
Islamabad
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