Daily Times

The conflict engulfing us all is fratricidal and heartrending. A curious mélange of faith based rage, ethnic particularism, crime fest, and externally abetted terrorism has started taking a heavy toll on our human as well material resources. Despite protestations to the contrary, the ugly fact remains that our terrorism issue has refused to die. With no end to the Afghan conflict in sight and the US presence a ubiquitous reality, the situation on Pak-Afghan border remains volatile. The Indo-US-Afghan axis ostensibly aimed at destabilisation of Pakistan with a view to derail Pakistan’s confabulation with the Chinese CPEC project is keeping the pot boiling to the detriment of the country’s politico-economic stability. With our economy on a life support under $91 billion dollars of debt and a political crisis in the country, the governance is a shambles. The problems have no easy fix and yet the policymakers are displaying no urgency to craft a coherent strategy to counter those.

Some time back we claimed that we had broken the back of the terrorists and insurgents. Apparently this ‘back’ has been reconstructed by those ghoulish perpetrators of terror, and an effort is needed to break it once more. Col Sohail Abid, a military intelligence officer, was martyred on May 17 in the Mastung area while leading an operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants. He was a very fine officer. I have personal experience of operating with him and can vouch for his professional competence and selfless dedication. While the saga of sacrifices of these fine young men continues, we are reminded of the ugly reality of the ubiquity of our longest war. As the staccato of sniper shots sing the funeral dirge of these gallant souls, my heart goes out to their brave relatives. While the Army lost a fine professional, a son lost a doting father, a wife a loving husband and a mother a much loved son.

Though the tragedy is borne with stoic forbearance by the families yet the pain of separation rankles with us being mortals. A nation that is led by politicians focused on politics of power and pelf is not being told the truth about the virulence and depth of the insidious phenomenon of extremism, of which terrorism is a mere symbol. The cancer of sectarianism that has metastasised in our society is now proving to be our undoing. For far too long the nation has buried its head in the sand and looked askance at this obstreperous wave of hatred and bigotry that has started consuming its own children now. Is it not time we woke up and muzzled the hate spewing Maulvis who are building mausoleums to the glory of assassins like Mumtaz Qadri? Is it not time we slew the hydra headed monster of extremism eating the entrails of our national integrity? Why is our Long War not coming to an end? For how long will we keep drawing like a Persian wheel the draughts of faith driven animus to kill and maim in the name of religion?

Is it not time we galvanised the nation towards a counter extremism endeavour with one voice and one narrative? Why our media on airwaves and print is besotted with the trivial and focused on mundane from 8 to 11 pm in a fatuous pantomime of rowdy talk shows? Why are we scurrying shy of taking this bull of extremism by the horns? Whither our national resolve? Who has failed us; our venal politicians, non performing state, or the cancer of religious extremism? Only days ago, an infantry battalion’s detachment was ambushed in Shawal area resulting in six martyrdoms. Now do the ingrates echoing the narrative of Pakistan haters care to examine the depth and magnitude of threat our troops are exposed to in FATA?

The cross border movement of terrorists from Afghanistan has compelled our Army to adopt a costly forward deployment posture along the mountainous Pak-Afghan border. The troops strung out on forward posts like all troops in the world require a secure rear for logistic and administrative sustenance. No such luck here as their rear areas have become insecure due to TTP militants operating freely from across the border.

In the past few weeks we indulged our liberal proclivities by denouncing Army’s check posts in FATA and the infringement of the human rights of the local population. The Manzoor Pashteen narrative was also indulged with equanimity by an Army that is facing diurnal ambuscades in the mountain a of the Pak-Afghan border. In a sincere bid to bring life to normalcy and settle the Temporary Displaced People (TDPs) the Army agreed to dismantle the check posts and to loosen control on movement of civilians in FATA. No sooner was that done that a spate of attacks on Army convoys and detachments commenced. Someone had not assessed the ugly reality that the situation in the tribal areas had not attained normalcy and that the FC, police, and civil administration were not yet ready to take over from the Army. By softening our posture and lowering our guard, we risk the recidivism of terrorism. We have not graduated beyond the ‘mowing the grass’ stage as yet, since it grows right back after every attempt.

Is it not time we woke up and muzzled the hate spewing Maulvis who are building mausoleums to the glory of assassins like Mumtaz Qadri?

The situation in Balochistan is equally critical. The action against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants in Mastung indicates that the war against sectarianism that was kept pending due to expedient politics and some strategic reasons was long overdue. The sectarian outfits along with BLA like militant nationalists who are being actively supported by RAW in Balochistan constitute a poisonous chalice that has to be drained off militancy. There is no room for complacency and politics. Pakistan cannot afford a fratricidal haemorrhage and internal implosion while being saddled with an economic burden of a failing economy. We have opened too many fronts with a weak economy and a fragile polity. We have to close our ranks with celerity in order to be able to confront the existential threats to our sovereignty and economic health. Someone has to provide strong and resolute leadership and provide it fast lest our enemies smell blood and fall upon us from all directions.

Nations must act with uncommon resolve and unconventional strategies in times like these. We have to marshal our best diplomatic resources to avoid diplomatic isolation as well as parry aggression. If our deft diplomacy with USA, India, and Afghanistan could earn us some temporary reprieve, our regional engagement with China and Russia should afford us permanent diplomatic dividends in the shape of regional politico-economic cooperation. The civil-military discord should be quickly resolved in the shape of an institutionalised approach towards national security strategy formulation. If the discord is irresolvable the national security should trump politics and a national government should take the centre stage till we are out of the present morass. The time for dithering and half measures is over. Extremism of every hue should be steamrolled without appeasement, while law enforcing agencies fully resourced and enabled to win our war against terrorism.

Pakistan faced a defining moment when a dithering civilian leadership watched askance while the military plunged headlong into hitherto thought unwinnable war against terrorists in FATA and North Waziristan. Now is another defining moment when we push the envelope in stamping out all vestiges of terrorism in a coordinated civil-military operation against all kinds of extremists whether they belong to LeJ, ISIS, Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), or Jamaat-ul-Ahrar. The action against militants should be extended to their ideological and material supporters and facilitators too, and no rabble rousing cleric should be allowed to misdirect the religious sentiment of the masses against the state. The state should come off its soft pedestal to don the steel mantle in this battle of national survival led by a leadership of substance.

The writer is a PhD scholar at NUST; email rwjanj@hotmail.com

Published in Daily Times, May 21^st 2018.