Our country is hostage to a few thousand radicalised militants whose goal in life is to wage jihad and commit suicide.
BRIGHTON, UK: Everyday people are being killed across the country. We have become so immune to violence that only its spectacular forms hit the headlines. We continue to play a double game: those perpetrating violence are the same organisations our leadership doesn’t or will not go after as they offer us the chance to realise our dream of ‘strategic depth’.
Our whole country is hostage to a few thousand radicalised militants whose goal in life is to wage jihad and commit suicide. Many among us continue to support their mission and offer justifications for their actions. They are nothing more than petty criminals, involved in murder, extortion, theft and kidnapping. Enough is enough, or has the spectre of Indian influence in Afghanistan blinded everyone to the deaths of our own citizens? It’s as if we find these deaths as acceptable collateral damage to continue our influence in Afghanistan and hedge our bets against India.
Please, if the militants and their ideologically warped backers have a death wish, at least spare all of those who are just trying to make ends meet, waking up every morning thinking whether it’s going to be their last.
Syed Nadir El-Edroos
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 210.
