Daily Times

The final battle for Pakistan’s soul will not be fought in either FATA or its eastern borders but in the streets of Karachi. Karachi represents Pakistan, being home to people from all communities and races that form the country’s citizenry. The Taliban agenda of power grab of the country requires Karachi to be taken over. The Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) has set the stage for their action. Sufficient numbers have been relocated to Karachi and the infiltration level of their operatives and sympathisers in various organisations is about to reach the critical mass required for their assault on the system. The city has countless students of religious schools ascribing to their doctrine, ensuring sympathy and refuge in case of any counter-action by the state. Their killing machines that have infiltrated the local political organisations and criminal gangs have been successful in making the existing groups blame one another while their common enemy lies elsewhere. Resultantly, the mainstream political groups remain pitted against one another for territorial superiority while the very basis of their politics that rests on the exercise of free will by the people is being attacked.

Karachi being Jinnah’s city of birth holds symbolic value as well. The Father of the Nation believed in equality amongst all of Pakistan’s citizens. The belief he put forward in his speech of August 11, 1947, “…you will find that in course of time Hindus would cease to be Hindus and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense …” is so fundamentally opposed to the Taliban doctrine that what they may do to his mausoleum in case of a success there is unimaginable. That they can attack mausoleums is not farfetched as the attack on Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s mazaar is a stark reminder.

While all sane elements within the country agree that the city needs to be rid of the Taliban infiltration, the realisation of the need still waits for the resolve that can translate into action. The result is mere lip service by a government that previously used to deny this infiltration and now waits for a major tragedy to unfold. The delay has ensured that the de-Talibanisation of the city that could have been achieved with comparative ease earlier will now not only require more extensive planning but would also take a heavy toll on the security forces that will have to fight an urban guerrilla war. Their success is imperative as their failure means the end for the country that was the land of dreams of millions of Muslims of the subcontinent, who paid a very heavy price for the partition of India. The criminal delay in tackling the situation that needed action earlier continues. History will not remember the delayers in kind words. The burden of the lives of countless more that will die later due to inaction now and those in the past will rest on those who were entrusted with the responsibility by the people and yet chose to act timidly merely to extend their period of rule. For the Taliban, FATA is a base for strategic planning, a launch pad for their operations and a human resource reservoir. Therefore, operations in troubled areas will have to be undertaken in a coordinated manner so that the required operation in Karachi is not sabotaged by counter-action emanating from this area. Conducting a disjointed operation in one area alone, on many occasions, has allowed the terrorists to escape to safe areas. Wonder why this was allowed to happen when any operation commander entrusted with the task of elimination of the threat would have asked for a coordinated assault. What will we gain if God forbid we lose the country? The ‘good Taliban’ rhetoric devised to gain a strategic ally in a post-US Afghanistan will have to be stopped. We must realise that negotiations can only be conducted with someone who believes in the power of argument and not with one whose only argument is militancy. There have always been negotiations between warring sides but none in history has witnessed one of the parties to be mercenaries with a self-proclaimed divine cause.

That the US should review its policy on the War on Terror is for them to decide as per their own national interests. It is us who first need to review our policy and realise that it really is our war. Terror is radicalism’s ablest prodigy as it takes its cause further. We therefore need to work single-mindedly to reverse the cycle of radicalisation, as it would ensure that the terrorists do not get the feedstock for their outfits. A review of laws that promote radicalisation should also be carried out. It may not be a bad idea that the government issues a broad guideline for the content of the sermons delivered in places of worship. They need to be focused more on moral and social issues confronting society and needing correction, rather than the politico-religious. The role of the clergy was to provide education and guidance on ways to help fellow beings and a closer union with the Creator. It is time they are confined to their proper role. A real enforcement of the ban on hate speech and derogatory literature against all faiths will start uniting people and start the reversal of the process of radicalisation.

Now is the time for unity of all pro-Pakistan parties to agree on the agenda for the elimination of the Taliban and the de-radicalisation of the country. Disunity on these issues now will take away the territory from all political parties and they will be just nobodies in a land breeding gloom and despair and ruled by terror. They must realise that territorial and constituency wars can be fought later. In a democratic Pakistan, all will get their chance to rule. In a theocratic land, it is anybody’s guess. The people pray our leaders show this wisdom.

The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at thelogicalguy@yahoo.com