Public statements aside, the state institutions are not on the same page regarding Pakistan’s biggest problem.
BAHRAIN, SWAT: This is with reference to Ayesha Siddiqa’s article of December 13 titled “Should Malala get a Nobel Prize?”
The writer is correct in saying that the state and the spineless government(s) do not leave any stone unturned for marketing their cosmetic endeavours by using Malala Yousufzai’s name as a branding item to tell the rest of the world that they mean business. A clear and straightforward policy on how to combat terrorism in Pakistan seems to be absent.
Malala’s name is being taken the world over as part of a commitment to girls’ education. But here in Swat, the fear of militants has become higher after the attack on her. The outrage that occurred in Pakistan after the attacks seems to have been short-lived and everything now seems to be back to what it was. The end result has been that the Taliban and their apologists in politics, media and on social media have carried the day. Many people seem to think that she was an “agent of America” and if you try and challenge this view then you are dubbed one as well. Even the well-educated ones seem surprised by the recognition that she is getting all around the world, as if they have never seen someone among them do so well.
Public statements aside, the state institutions are not on the same page regarding Pakistan’s biggest problem. Parliament is either too impotent, or simply not interested, to take the responsibility of formulating security policies. The police are too demoralised to take security initiatives, to the extent that the whole process of investigating terrorist attacks suffers since most suspects arrested are not convicted, usually for want of evidence.
The fact of the matter is that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan has openly waged war against the people of Pakistan, the armed forces and the political parties but many people in the country pretend as if nothing is happening. Instead of finding the problem and dealing with it, what we see usually is statements by various senior functionaries, all usually pointing to foreign elements or intelligence agencies as being behind terrorism and militancy.
The response by the government to the open war being conducted by the militants is to hide behind luminaries such as Malala Yousufzai or Oscar-winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy instead of doing anything concrete to counter the extremist threat. The only way forward is if parliament takes charge of security and counterterrorism policies and formulates a long-term policy to deal with the extremists and militants.
Zubair Torwali
Published in The Express Tribune, December 16th, 2012.
