Daily Times

The children of Pakistan and Palestine share two common problems: a sizeable poor population and a rivalry between the followers of two different religions. Poverty leaves their parents short of resources to take good care of them and militant organisations, knowing this weakness, take full advantage of it. Once these poor children are exposed to these organisations, they end up becoming foot soldiers of the holy war being fought against the infidel forces in their own or the neighbouring country. What follows once they join these militant organisations is a swamp of miseries that become their unalterable destiny. These ill-fated children face a double-edged sword; one side of it lures them to sacrifice their lives for a holy cause and the other, if they are caught before detonating themselves, subjects them to confinement, intimidating interrogation, and torture.

Reports indicate that every year Israel arrests nearly 700 Palestinian children (aged 12-17 years) from the West Bank on charges of throwing stones at the Israeli army or security forces. Once they are arrested, a torturous investigation procedure is initiated in most of the cases by the Israeli army, police or security agents. The objective is to dig out information about the masterminds behind them. Later, these children are put on trial in Israel’s military courts and, based on different press reports, a majority of them are prosecuted without having their lawyer or parents in the court. Commenting on this procedure, the UNICEF Child Protection chief, Saudamini Siegrist, said, “Nowhere else in the world are children systematically tried before military courts so unsuited for their need.” What negative effects these trials and interrogations have on these children is another story of miseries. A report on child detention says that thousands of Palestinian children struggle with mental health problems and reintegration into society after they are detained by Israeli security agencies.

Do these repressive methods help the Israeli army to achieve its objectives? A would-be suicide bomber girl, Wafa al-Biss, soon after her release from an Israeli jail, proudly told the cheering schoolchildren who came to see her at her home in Gaza Strip that one day, they would hopefully follow the same path that she took. Wafa al-Biss was arrested in 2005 carrying 10 kilograms of explosives sewn into her underwear and she was released after nearly six years of detention in October 2011. Five years of imprisonment and a continuous ordeal of investigation and trial could not shake her resolve to serve a cause that is so dear to her. Wafa al-Biss was one of the 477 Palestinians released in 2011 in exchange for one Israeli soldier who had been in Hamas captivity for five years.

Victimisation of children in war-torn countries is nothing new in human history. Every country, from one continent to the other, irrespective of its religion, has a history of such experiences. While keeping children in detention and putting them through trials in army courts by Israel are in no way justifiable, the use of children for political purposes is another side of a similar crime against children that goes unchecked and unquestioned in many countries including Pakistan.

Nearly 353 suicide attacks have been carried out in Pakistan from 2002 to May 2012 and in most of the cases, the persons involved were children or young boys and the Taliban were the ones who took pride in announcing their hand in it. Most of us read these reports every other day, feel sorry for the victims of suicide attacks, and condemn the perpetrators and their instigators. The young boy or boys who are led to shred their bodies into pieces remain persona non grata not only for the common people but for their parents as well because nobody ever tries to come up and claim the dead bodies of the suicide bombers. The news media, especially the Urdu media, publishes reports of the incidents, writes an editorial sometimes, and after condemning the growing trend of terrorism in the country, unleashes its criticism on the US’s war on terror. I hardly recall any event where our media raised any concern or condemnation on the use of children as weapons by the Taliban or whosoever that claim to have their hand in such crimes. I quote two examples here.

April 4, 2011, a suicide bomber, Fida Hussain, aged 15-16 years, an Afghan refugee, was arrested while he was trying to detonate himself at the Sakhi Sarwar shrine in D G Khan.

June 21, 2011, a nine-year old schoolgirl, Sohana Jawed, sought help from security personnel when her abductors tried to leave her at a check post, wearing a remote controlled suicide jacket.

While the English press came out with editorials and columns to criticise these events, the two largest circulated Urdu dailies that are read and understood by the majority of the population remained silent on the nine-year-old girl’s incident. However, they did write an editorial on the incident of the Sakhi Sarwar shrine along with a question mark on the authenticity of the reports declaring the Taliban responsible for this attack. Nobody condemned the use of children and teenagers as fodder for acts of terrorism.

From 2002 to May 2012, Pakistani Muslims have been the victims of 353 suicide attacks as against 116 suicide attacks that were carried out by Palestinians against Israeli non-Muslims from 1994 to this date. Since 2007, no suicide attack took place in Israel while Pakistan has witnessed nearly 332 suicide attacks during this period. As most of these suicide attacks were carried out by one or more than one person, it means more or less 400 teenagers or children have sacrificed their lives in performing a duty that they are told is sacred and ordained by the religion they follow. The tragic part of the story is that no tears are shed for them, no funerals are performed, and no dead body is ever claimed by the parents. Unfortunate children of unfortunate parents go up in smoke because we, as a society, have failed miserably to save them from a fate that they are told to be rewarded for up in heaven.

While Palestinian children sacrifice their lives to target their enemies, our Pakistani children and teenagers are trained to blow up their own people. Do people or militant organisations that put these children on these self-sacrificing missions have any feeling of remorse? What can one expect from them when the whole society is silent about it?

The writer is a freelance journalist and researcher. He can be reached at mohammad.nafees@yahoo.com