After the Peshawar carnage our security forces and political leadership and entire nation are united to curb the menace of terrorism. Before the Peshawar massacre few political parties like Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaaf, Jamat-e-Islami and Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (F) were lenient to take military action against the Talibans and they were of the view that issues should be resolved on the table. More of less all the political parties are now on the same page to fight the terrorism. Prior, we were in the doubts either is it our war or not and we left this war only on the shoulders of our military as the politicians did not make any serious effort to counter the pre-emptive attacks of the terrorists which are being rooted out from the North Waziristan. It is tragic that we have realized as a nation that it is out war after the merciless killings of our innocent children, although were given many incidents by the terrorists to open our eyes. Terrorists attacked the Wahga border, which took over fifty precious lives but we did not see the maneuver of our politicians which we are seeing now.
Perhaps it is the nature and scale of the atrocity in Peshawar that can be held responsible for this collective outburst. Since the Peshawar bloodbath, the military and security agencies have sprung into action on an unprecedented scale throughout the country. We are a nation looking for a genuine leader; our prime minister has made a committee to form a decisive counter terrorism policy. Nations have seen tragic incidents but the leaders always know what to do, at the time of Chaos in Britain Winston Churchul, in Russia, Stalin and In France De guale all knew what to do to come from the crises. After 9/11 all the leadership of United States knew how to save their land. They all did not ask to their Chaudhary Nisars to form a decisive policy to counter the threats; they were crystal clear about their plans.
More executions are now on the cards after the two carried out in Faisalabad the Friday and four on Sunday. But some have had to be deferred out of security concerns. Those concerns do not stop at the immediate threat of attacks by the terrorists on jails to free their colleagues on death row. They include the possibility of retaliatory further atrocities and terrorist actions, particularly on soft targets, in the days ahead. We are in a state of war, a fact denied for far too long by too many on the wrong side of the divide in our society. Such elements, whether in the media or elsewhere, are now under scrutiny and even verbal attack. However, what is still missing is a concentrated counter-narrative to challenge not only the terrorists, their sympathisers and defenders’ views, but educate the general public about how the holy name of religion has been misused by the terrorists to justify their bloody trade. For years we have been warning of the blowback from our proclivity to create and nurture proxy forces to project power in the region, east and west. That blowback has been around for some years but it is only now that the Peshawar tragedy has focused minds as never before across the board. Wisdom dawning is better late than never, but knee-jerk reactions and revengeful tendencies are no substitute for a considered, holistic approach to the problem of the growth and proliferation of all sorts of terrorists on our soil.
The self-inflicted affliction of terrorist groups, whether for foreign and strategic policy purposes or because space was allowed sectarian terrorism, now requires the physician to heal himself. No partial or discriminatory approach, along the lines of the thoroughly discredited by now ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taliban narrative will do. Domestic terrorist groups such as the TTP and its ilk, sectarian groups such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and its tribe, proxy warriors against India like the Jamaat-ud-Dawa and their extremist allies must all be put out to pasture. Pakistan must now also revisit its Afghan Taliban policy and make sincere efforts to bring about a rapprochement between Mulla Omar and company and Kabul if Afghanistan, Pakistan, the region and the world are to finally turn the page on jihadi terrorism.
Talibans, Boko Haram and ISIS all are the same in their nature, brutal inhuman beasts, using the religion to achieve own agendas which has been condemned by the religion.
We came to know few days before that Islamic State has killed over hundred own people who were planning to distance themselves from the Islamic State. It seems that there is no way out for the people who join these terrorist organizations. One should not be surprised. IS is a hardened group, a militant outfit so cruel and barbaric it makes al Qaeda seem almost docile in comparison.