Promises of crushing those responsible for Charsadda terrorism need to translate into action
LAHORE: At least 21 innocent students and a professor were brutally murdered by terrorists at Bacha Khan University. Who will shed tears for them other than their parents, siblings and the next of kin? Shouldn’t the prime minister have dashed back to Pakistan if this was one of his own children? If President Barack Obama, the most powerful leader in the world, can shed a tear in memory of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims while addressing the gun control issue in America, what stops our ruling elite and establishment from doing the same? Mere condemnations, days of mourning and promises of crushing those responsible will not resolve this grave crisis unless there is will, translated into action with zero tolerance for any private militia or criminals, whatever their affiliations.
The disconnect between people and the ruling elite is becoming wider. It is time we faced the ugly reality that some of our own citizens are being brainwashed within our country with a distorted version of religion and are being trained to unleash such horrors. Our enemies will continue to exploit loopholes that corruption and greed offer.
It was in the 1980s that factories of mercenary jihadists were created in Pakistan and those responsible minted billions from this ugly brutality that would unleash terror on the citizens of Pakistan. We failed to forfeit the billions that were made by these merchants of death and deceit, most of it conveniently transferred to foreign safe havens and even today, those who benefit from a criminal economy are allowed to get away scot-free. Unless this institutionalised money laundering is eliminated and those thriving from the criminal economy are given exemplary punishments, crime and terrorism will continue to haunt us. It is we who must put our own house in order and stop allowing ourselves to be used for proxy wars. Our sole strategic assets should only be our armed forces, military hardware and state infrastructure, not any private militia.
Ali Malik
Published in The Express Tribune, January 25th, 2016.
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