The fact is that guns were available for hire and were used liberally and selfishly.
BRIDGETON, NEW JERSEY, USA: Such cries in the wilderness, like that of Mr Minallah, will not make an iota of a difference. Please understand that there is a force called the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is well armed, well trained and well funded, with the Pakistani state doing nothing about it.
The Pakistani state used the services of such groups to target other countries, institutions used their services to target opponents and political parties and individuals in the power structure used their services for criminal activities — making all organs complicit. The fact is that guns were available for hire and were used liberally and selfishly. Since the state cannot accept that it was the aggressor, it has to fall in line with the thinking that the violence is an offshoot of the use of drones, with the fact that terrorism had taken root prior to 9/11, being of no relevance.
Thanks to the choices made by those running the country, Pakistan is caught between a rock and a hard place. Going after the terror groups could endanger the state so it will thwart every effort to smoke them out and expose them.
Feroz Daruwala
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2013.
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