Interference in other countries’ affairs in the name of jihad didn’t help Pakistan.
JUBAIL, SAUDI ARABIA: We are now in 2013 and 25 years have passed since the plane carrying military dictator General Ziaul Haq exploded soon after take-off. Twenty-five years should have been a long period to undo his evils but Pakistan has miserably failed in doing this. Today, the whole country is on fire, thanks to extremism and militancy, which has its roots in the Zia era.
Interference in other countries’ affairs in the name of jihad didn’t help Pakistan and certainly didn’t make it a more secure nation. Millions of Afghan refugees were allowed to settle all over the country and this also negatively affected law and order. The dictator also encouraged the setting up of thousands of seminaries and these provided fodder for the Afghan war fought by the mujahideen on behalf of the Americans and Saudis.
Not long ago, the murderer of the Governor of Punjab was garlanded by lawyers. A judge who saw this as a straight forward murder case and sentenced the killer to death was forced to leave the country.
In short, the long night of evil, which started in 1977, some thought terminated on August 17, 1988, has, in fact, not yet come to an end.
It produced a mindset that has gripped each and every segment of society and no one seems to know how to reverse it.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2013.
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