Daily Times

The confusion never ends. No matter what happens, no matter what evidence, no matter what atrocity unfolds, no matter how many bodies are buried and no matter what the amount of destruction is. The people are tangled in their warped state of mind and condemnation after condemnation; it is business as usual. The twitter timelines, the newspapers and tube are littered with these hollow condemnations. The enemy strikes, cries and wails are heard, caskets are raised and ‘never again’ chants are heard. A few days later, the horrific cycle repeats itself and life tends to go on. It is almost like a programmed event, the receptors in human brain are numbed and the eyes are strong enough to endure these horrific images. All this goes on because the confusion doctrine dictates that the enemy is not the enemy. This is the only reason why despite all the hue and cry, people are witnessing their own painful end.

Without repeating what has been said earlier in this space, the Pakistan we know is withering day by day. The inane, hyperbolic cries after every insane suicide bombing attack that ‘these terrorists cannot be Muslims’ is so stupid that it cannot be tolerated one bit. The crazy logic of A assaults B and B attacks C and everyone around C comes together to avenge the attack of A cannot be sold even to a toddler. Yet we have people making fallacious pitches selling this faulty logic to the leaders responsible for our fate and destiny, and the zombies, commonly known as the people or electorate. These heartless brokers with their hollow skulls are screaming the loudest, with everything in their arsenal to throw at people. Sometimes it is faith, sometimes it is the humanitarian angle, sometimes the drones, and if nothing else then the fear factor is being used to mould the public discourse. If peace is not made, such attacks will follow is the new threat coming not from the brutes but their mouthpieces on the tube. Any other civilised nation would say ‘enough is enough’ and get out of this cycle of confusion and launch a decisive action for its survival. But no such luck here. When a deadly and poisonous python, scorpion or any fatal beast is threatening your life and existence, you do not raise a white flag. Your reaction instantaneously and immediately is the attempt to protect your life and existence. No second thoughts ever cross your brain because any delay can be irreparable.

Whether it is the Westgate Mall in Nairobi or the All Saints Church of Peshawar, the message of hate is the same. The lethal ideology of extermination of everyone except Muslims is at play. The idea to create a Khilafat on the corpses of many is so abhorrent that no words can really encapsulate such a miserable thought. Our faith that is supposed to be the message of peace has been tarnished by such crooked ideology. The menace of death and destruction based on misinterpretation of our faith has to be stopped globally and with full force. Once labelled as Bush’s ‘War on Terror’, this is truly now the war that every country on the globe has to fight. The condemnations, edicts and senseless dialogues aside, it is time for action. The greatest responsibility remains on our shoulders, as very painfully the epicentre of this global menace is around and within our domain. It almost looks like a page from a script of a Hollywood movie, where the survival of the planet is dependent on a single being or a single nation.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made some headlines of scrapping the peace process with the misguided warriors. It is high time that words are followed with real and decisive action. To the admirable Chief of the Army Staff, who reminds us all on the Day of Martyrs about the heavy price his troops has paid in this struggle, perhaps it is time for that decisive battle of eradication of this menace, once and for all. Small scale surgical operations will not do any good. To the respectable Chief of Inter-Services Intelligence, maybe it is about time that information gathered is shared expeditiously with the Interior Minister to avoid any further mishaps like the All Saints Church. To the nightly ring leaders on the tube, in the name of ‘freedom of speech and expression’, please stop the coverage of the mouthpieces of terrorists for a limited time. This will enable the cycle of confusion to lose some steam. When their masters cease to exist, these people will either switch to a different line of work or they will disappear forever. To the people, with utmost respect, it is the moment. If not now then forever we will regret. That too, if only we get to live.

The writer is a Pakistani-American mortgage banker. He blogs at http://dasghar.blogspot.com and can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/dasghar