Daily Times

On January 20, 2016, gunmen entered the compound of a university in Charsadda when it was covered with early morning fog. What happened later is not different from what has been happening in our country for decades: carnage. We had to carry young coffins again; the future of Pakistan was slaughtered at Bacha Khan University (BKU). It was a grim reminder to all that the enemy still lurks among us and remains strong. There have been many ‘never forget’ moments in Pakistan and every time we promise to reform ourselves, to purge our society of extremists, to be more vigilant against these extreme mindsets but every time we forget it all with the passage of time.

We were told that we were in a decisive ‘do or die’ battle. We all had to support Operation Zarb-e-Azb and had to set up military courts all over the country because that was the only answer to this problem. We could either kill them or they would kill us. But time and time again, we have been proven wrong. This error in judgement is unfortunate for those parents who have lost their children, for those children who have lost their parents and those ‘forced martyrs’ who left home that morning to simply go to work. Similar to the inexplicable and immature speech that disgorges out of Donald Trump’s mouth, a lot of people have been suggesting they we should arm the teachers. Great, reduce violence by more violence. What if the attackers bring in rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) next time? Will we start training the teachers and students in urban warfare?

Following the invasion of Afghanistan by foreign forces in 2001 and the subsequent influx of foreign militants into Pakistan, the Pakistan military launched its first official operation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) on October 23, 2003 at Angur Ada in South Waziristan under Pervez Musharraf’s government. The late investigative journalist Saleem Shehzad, in his book Inside Al Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11, suggests that the military encountered such stiff resistance at Angur Ada that it took the military by surprise. Unfortunately, not much has changed since then. The Pakistani armed forces have launched multiple military actions in FATA and Khyber Pakthunkhwa, namely Operations Sher Dil, Rah-e-Haq, Rah-e-Rast, Sirat-e-Mustaqeem (Khyber Agency), Eagle Swoop (Kohat District), Mountain Scanner (North Waziristan Agency), Operation Mountain Sweep II (South Waziristan Agency), Zalzala, Black Thunderstorm, Rah-e-Nijat and now Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Unless the Pakistani government and the people of the country do more to address the conditions that make Pakistan an accommodating environment for militancy and extremism, Operation Zarb-e-Azb, just like its predecessors, may turn out to be a strategic failure in our fight against terrorism. And I am sure the populace of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA are now fatigued by these ongoing actions with no clear end game in sight.

The enemy has never been defined and this is where the fundamental error lies. This gap in information has been filled in by confusing narratives that are heavily reliant on contradictory lies, conspiracy theories and paranoia. Whether this has been done deliberately or not is a separate discussion but if we are really serious in making sure Pakistan recovers from the multiple wounds inflicted on it by the terrorists then it is high time to start making some progress on this front. We have to start accepting that the enemy lies within and not in some neighbouring country. A lot has been written about jihadi outfits, their training and financing, their covert support and the establishment’s insistence on protecting these strategic assets; this article is not about that. It is about the more pervasive tolerance for intolerance in our society. The silence of the majority when injustice is meted out to minorities such as Shias, Christians, Hindus and Ahmedis only strengthens the extremists, as it is seen as a passive acceptance of their twisted ideology. This narrative of hate, which has permeated our society, only helps create more future extremists. It takes only a few minutes after any dreadful event in Pakistan before we start strewing out incoherent and loosely knit ideas about it, which is a deliberate attempt by the authorities to hide their incompetence and help protect their assets.

If we had stopped for a minute, had refrained from mocking the attack on Malala Yousafzai and had taken concrete steps then maybe we would not have been shedding tears over the young souls lost in the Army Public School (APS) and Charsadda. Why does one have to be a martyr to be a patriot? A number of politicians and media outlets are responsible for fanning this irresponsible mindset. I have said it in the past that we appear to be a nation addicted to pain, we tend to crave pain when there is none. Enough is enough.

If we do not introspect and have a paradigm shift in our worldview and internal policies, we will continue to see more atrocities and massacres in the coming future. The BKU attack was not the first and is surely not the last. No matter how many Zarb-e-Azbs we carry out, if we are not ready to change the narrative and get rid of these strategic assets, I am afraid we will be carrying many more young coffins on our tired shoulders. Unfortunately, there are lots of speculators who think it is already too late. Can we prove them wrong?

The writer is a consultant psychiatrist and honorary senior lecturer in the UK