A Step in the Right Direction
By Syed Kamran Hashmi
Westfield, IN
"Allah o Akbar(God is the Greatest)," they shouted together before opening fire on their targets, the young students of the Army Public School Peshawar, ranging from eight to sixteen. Through their single-yet, well-coordinated and well-planned-attack the terrorists mowed down over one hundred children last week, all of them innocent, unarmed and hapless. Their fault? They were all Pakistanis.
Vengeance, they have called it, for the children of tribal areas who were also innocent like the ones in Peshawar but lost their lives from the jet bombings and indiscriminate killings of the Pakistan Army. Even if we agree with their assertion for a moment without asking them why those children were being used as human shields; and even if we ignore that many of them held guns in their hands and acted as trained spies or soldiers; the attack in the public school still is so barbaric and heinous that Pakistanis would never forgive the perpetrators (or the supporters) of such violence, let alone accept its justification.
After the massacre, one thing should be clear to the Tahreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) that if there had been any chance for Taliban to win over the hearts and minds of Pakistanis in the name of Islamic revolution, that window has been permanently closed. And if the terrorists thought that there was any possibility to regain their strength in the tribal areas and to put the administration on the back foot again, then they have lost that opportunity too. People are angry, even those who stood in favor of a dialogue with TTP in the past and those who thought that Taliban could be kept as assets to help win across-the-border objectives.
Pakistanis have tolerated TTP for a while, despite its attacks on our soil and its suicide bombings. People thought that the religiously misguided gorilla warriors had some genuine grievances which needed to be addressed. But now, the time to stay patient is gone. Whether you are a cleric, a politician, a religious leader, an officer or a criminal, it is time to sever all ties with the terrorists. There lays no middle ground anymore, no grey areas where people can be fooled in the name of religion or retaliation. And at least for now, you either stand with us or against us.
By the way in 2001, this is exactly how the Americans had felt after the Twin Tower attacks - only twenty times stronger than us as the number of their casualties hangs close to three thousand. I know most Pakistanis do not feel their pain as much and some even believe that it is America’s own doing or a reaction of their policies. You know, we can be blamed for the same crime in that regard. After all, TTP came into being as a result of our bad policies in the tribal areas. Furthermore, some of us can even construct a conspiracy theory holding Pakistani Army responsible for the Peshawar massacre in the same way we have contrived so many for the United States. How preposterous would that be? However, the reality is that innocent Americans lost their lives in 2001, people who had nothing to do with the foreign policy. The horrific images emerging from Peshawar of the school floor coated with human blood are not more horrific than the images of the people jumping down from the top of the World Trade Center. Nine Eleven, even after more than a decade, brings out the same emotions of anger, pain and grief in Americans as the Peshawar incident brings out in us.
Nonetheless, I am happy with the people’s verdict. I am not happy because so many kids have lost their lives, of course, or happy because their parents will suffer for years to come but I am happy because the children who have sacrificed for their country will defend us as our guardian angels. They will protect us not only from the real Taliban who kill and blow themselves up but also from the fake ones, the ones who always seem to find a way to justify the cause of the Taliban. From now on, these angels will stand between us and the TTP or their sympathizers, guiding us to identify the enemy within us and encourage us to fight all of them till the last one has met justice.
We can win this war, no doubt about it. But I also have no doubt that this war is not confined to the tribal areas, nor do I think it is limited to the United States-led war against terrorism or its invasion in Afghanistan. Instead, this war is like a demon with multiple heads, out of which only one can be attributed to the American foreign policy. Rest of the heads of this devil lay in Pakistan. And trust me we have to chop off every one of them to be completely free.
The good news is that with the Army operation in North Waziristan we have started the process. Although, skeptics, including myself, believe that the Army operation is too little too late, but still it is a step in the right direction. Considering that as the baby step one, the next few steps need to follow soon. However, they pose a bigger challenge to our society. I am with that alluding to our struggle (jihad) against extremism and religious intolerance.
It requires real courage - much more than standing in front of the death squad - to lead that struggle. Giving up life is easy, even Taliban can do that. Fighting extremism is difficult: it questions our existence as a sovereign nation, challenges our Islamic identity and objects to our defense paradigm. The time has come to make all-inclusive-Pakistan as our only state religion, no more no less. Are we ready for that? Would we ever be ready?
