Daily Times

Last year, I saw a South Asian Canadian talk show, where the host had a Pakistani American Journalist as a guest. The discussion was very enriching and enlightening in every sense. A point raised by the journalist intrigued me a lot and I whole-heartedly agree with him. He did a very thorough analysis of our disarray and attributed a major factor being our collective confusion.

We are still confused about a lot, including and not limited to our reason for existence. He articulated a very valid argument by stating that countries where core issues are not settled remain confused. The confusion is so pervasive that nothing escapes its ugly tentacles.

The recent military operations against terrorism were conducted with colossal fanfare. If you recall, there was a lot of confusion, prior to the launch of Zarb-e-Azb. There was a significant majority, including mainstream political parties who were all for negotiating with the terrorists. Committees were formed, trying to broker a deal with our “lost brothers.” Even though, they knew it was a nonstarter.

After Army Public School (APS) massacre, it became so obvious that action was necessary for the survival of the country. The media apologists and sympathetic religious and political leaders took a short hiatus from the scene, while some shed crocodile tears in solidarity with the APS victims. The leaders who came up with radical theories of a directly proportional relationship between American drone strikes and Taliban’s terrorism found other matters to fiddle with.

Following APS outcry and mourning, the general theme was a new page will be turned. Yours truly had reservations and expressed those repeatedly on the social media. Those reservations were full of merit as we have a rebirth of the “sympathy narrative” in a repackaged and rebranded manner. The maneuver, this time around is soft image building. The idea is to let the people get the “human and gentle side” of the actual and aspiring terrorists.

The narrative of a well-educated and aware lady getting trapped is somewhat not adding up. Even if it is a blemish out of sheer passion and naiveté, it is a fatal one

Once there was the one and only daughter of the nation, who was handed over to the US, in the times of our Ex Commando cum Ex-President. Interestingly, no one including the hard core religious and conservative politicians ever questioned him for this betrayal with this sorry nation. These people unleash their unrestrained anger against the US for falsely imprisoning her and so on.

Well the nation has found yet another daughter who tried to follow the footsteps of the aforementioned “elder sister.” According, to her very questionable tale, she was intrigued by the idea of the formation of Caliphate. She surfed through some jihadi and religious websites and bingo got radicalised.

Believable to some extent, as many European countries have had similar stories, where young vulnerable girls were lured into this scam on the internet, but where her story falls short is when she was supposedly “trapped” into becoming a suicide bomber. The credit goes to the security forces, which foiled the sinister plot and averted an attack on a church this past Easter.

The narrative of a well-educated and aware lady getting trapped is somewhat not adding up. Even if it is a blemish out of sheer passion and naiveté, it is a fatal one. The folks on social media expressed their resentment over this white washing of a wannabe terrorist. A very popular TV anchor and an eminent English columnist wrote a detailed piece trying to point towards the lack of de-radicalization strategies, facilities and practices.

However, I humbly disagree with him on one point. Airing of this young lady’s interview, per his take, was a signal to other youth: do not go astray. In my humble opinion, at least the young lady should have been sentenced and served some time for her fatal slip. She did not go and join some Tableeghi Jamat (The Preaching Movement), but a notorious terrorist organisation, well known for its ruthless killings and bombings, around the globe.  An interview from her detention cell would have sent the right signal to the young boys and girls so they would think twice, before embarking on the dark side.

Next, was another interview that aired on a popular TV channel, which infuriated many citizens including but not limited to the families of APS victims. Ehsan Ullah Ehsan, the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) and its subsequent faction Jamatul Ahrar’s (JUA) spokesperson, who gleefully accepted responsibility for many terrorist attacks, was shown as someone who is regretful, for all those atrocities.

This was tantamount to adding insult to the injury. The gentleman (it pains me to call him one) was painted as a poet, an author and above all, the “media manager” of those terror outfits, by our famous TV anchor and interviewer. Mr Ehsan, tendered a hollow remorseful apology to the APS families. The thrust of his argument rested on this revelation; all terrorism in Pakistan is sponsored by Indian and Afghan spy agencies.

By sheer alignment of our lucky stars, he voluntarily surrendered to the security forces, after learning that his paymasters were foreign spy agencies. The Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) assured that Mr Ehsan will be prosecuted and sentenced per the law of the land. No doubts there, but again, the way the interview was conducted, it was in a very cordial manner. Mr Ehsan was smiling in comfortable digs. Again, if this interview was conducted in a jail cell, where Mr. Ehsan was not all smiles, it would have served its purpose.

If these two samples are not adequate to point out where the counter narrative is headed, nothing will. Both events send all the wrong signals. De-radicalisation will not happen on prime time with great marketers. Confusion has started to settle in as we have gone back to our signature distinction of good and bad terrorists.

The writer is a Pakistani-US mortgage banker. He can be reached at dasghar@aol.com. He tweets @dasghar