TACKLING TERRORISM
Malala Yusofzai (left) and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto (right): Both victims of the extremism that Pakistan is fighting.
been poverty, disease and a severely challenged state apparatus. All wars have rules, and wars do
not target civilian populations. The terrorists’ weapons are no-holds- barred as they do not stop anywhere. Comprising some of the most cruel and callous terrorists, these outfits engage in frequent kidnappings, suicide and bomb attacks and targeted shootings against the Pakistani nation. The terrorists are not only attacking our way of life, they are killing our best foot soldiers, our police and constabulary, our social workers, students, our health workers and teachers, and crippling our social delivery systems and our capacity to build the state. In Swat, for instance, a child activist, Malala Yusofzai, was attacked for standing up for her right to education. In Karachi, women polio workers were killed and in Swabi social workers were attacked and killed.
The gunshot wounds inflicted
Afghanistan post-9/11 and needing Pakistan for logistical and geopolitical support, they sought its assistance and Pakistan under General Musharraf made a u-turn against the Taliban and the militants it was earlier supporting. That is when we became the
enemy of the militants and fighters in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border lands. Operating from the F.A.T.A., an area where for decades the Taliban enjoyed safe havens, they have now spread into other cities like Quetta and Karachi under the banner of Tehrike Taliban Pakistan. Pakistan is left alone to deal with these lethal remnants of a vicious war as they have turned their wrath both on the state and its people. Although terrorism has become a
global buzzword, and dominates world security politics, the human angle of terrorism rarely makes it to the world stage.
An assault on the nation and its people We here are going through a national trauma, having lost thousands of men, women and children to terrorism. We have lost more soldiers than all North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led Coalition Forces combined in these daily attacks. Officially, Pakistan cites a round
figure of 40,000 casualties and a monetary loss of USD$50 billion, but I consider this to be a very conservative estimate. The reality is more gruesome than these numbers as negative fallouts of war have
by the assassins are hitting at the nation’s deepest scars and, although it has renewed our force, resolve and unity against terror, it has also unravelled the schisms in Pakistan which sadly still persist. Nationwide prayers and peace vigils apart, this country, trapped in a chronic war for three decades, has developed deep fissures in its psyche. These fissures do not just divide the social world; they divide the state as well. Religious extremism has filtered into the society at several levels with a large section of the people subscribing to extremist ideals.
Fighting back Perhaps that is where our gravest challenge lies. Our history has caused its share of confusion, our dictatorships and the security establishment constructed by them having contributed to this state; and though the militants direction is towards the people of Pakistan, there is a perception that this surge in terrorist activity is related to the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) action on Afghanistan and that all this will wither away, as if by magic, once the ISAF leaves the
region in 2014. We have yet to devise a strong politically cohesive national strategy that unites us against all terrorist activity. Luckily, our best hope is
democracy. It is the first time a democratic regime is completing its term in Pakistan and an election is due to take place in the mid-year. I am convinced that extremism and militancy can only be confronted by a democratic system where peoples’ voices are heard and valued and where aspirations of the people are reflected in an active vibrant civil society. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto repeatedly asserted: “Democracy is necessary for peace and to undermine the forces of terrorism.” The cowardly attacks on students
like Malala, polio workers, social workers and politicians have led to a strong voice calling for unity against obscurantism and militancy at the political level. The attack on Malala has also
stirred up the global community, which has begun to renew efforts in mustering global support for education in Pakistan. Today, Pakistan needs the world’s
full attention, not only for our tragic terror attacks and our human losses, but also for the fact that the nation has steadfastly upheld democratic values, rights and freedoms even as we confront militancy and terrorism, with our people demonstrating exemplary courage in facing up to the challenge. We have demonstrated courage again and again, whether it is our brave leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who stood for the restoration of democracy or Malala Yusofzai, who stood for the right to education, or our polio workers or our social activists who work in the field with the poor and disadvantaged despite the odds. The world needs to come forward
and pay tribute to all the martyrs of terrorist attacks, and come forward to support us to promote, expand and strengthen the political and social space for a democratic and progressive civil society which is the only sustainable force that will confront the evil of terrorism.
The Parliamentarian | 2013: Issue One | 17
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