I agree with the writer when he says that Pakistan has been fighting extremists but not extremism.
KARACHI: This is with reference to the article by M Bilal Lakhani “Pakistan’s obituary” (November 7). The radicalism and extremism in Pakistan began right from its inception because Muslims of the subcontinent were lured into the Pakistan Movement only by the promise that it would be an Islamic state. No one cared to define what exactly was meant by an ‘Islamic state’. I agree with the writer when he says that Pakistan has been fighting extremists but not extremism.
However, I would go one step further and say what he probably must have intended to write. Extremism, the way it was inculcated in madrassas during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, can only be neutralised by educating the people about history in an unbiased manner and revising what is written in the books that are taught here in a manner that invites critical thinking. Unless we address the ideology of the militants, military operations will be futile.
Aamna Hassan
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2013.
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