The unheard victims

Amidst the noise of the warmongering media in India, and fiery rebuttals of the morally indignant media in Pakistan; amidst the loud statements of politicians, and hash-tagging of betrayal and wrath on social media, there is that one sound that stands apart. It is the sound of the wailing of mothers on losing their beloved sons, of fathers trying to make sense of what happened, of siblings sitting frozen next to their dead brother’s body, of wives lamenting their husbands’ deaths, of teenagers trying to sound brave, of children asking questions to which there are no satisfactory answers. Of all the chaotic din enveloping the Pathankot coverage on Indian channels that I managed to watch online, the sound of families crying for the seven victims of this latest incident of terror lingers in my mind. I have heard it too many times in Pakistan.

An act of terror is simply that. An act of terror. There are no ifs and buts about an act that targets innocent human beings for one reason or another. Whether it is to prove a point, to avenge real or imagined injustices, to make a cause noticeable, to further an agenda, or to highlight violations of human rights, there is no — and I repeat no — pretext under which an act of terror becomes justified. Whether it is in Pakistan, India, Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, France, the UK, the US, Kenya, Iraq, Iran or Saudi Arabia, an act of terror is gender-ideology-ethnicity-religion-nation-less, as it kills without discrimination, severing bodies and destroying lives beyond the attacks. The pain of losing a loved one is identical in all who go by the connotation of being human, and so is the anger of losing a loved one to an act of terror. Beyond the pain, and beyond the wails are questions, of accountability, of retribution.

The theatrical reality of the Pakistan-India dynamic is an overwhelming expression that nothing seems to give. While the two prime ministers have a brilliant photo-op of a warm hug, hand-holding, friendly chat over chai, the scepticism is all too real. What now looms large is the ghost of the past that is darkened by a history of paranoia, bloodshed, broken promises and justified mistrust. As the December 25, 2015 visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked a new phase of the Pakistan-India relationship, the January 2, 2016, Pathankot attack, allegedly by the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) of Pakistan, is a brutal reminder of the inherent weaknesses of the country’s fight against terror. There are some questions that Pakistan needs to ask itself. Simply and honestly. I do not hold my breath for answers.

Contrary to predictable reactions, the Pakistan government has offered its assistance to the Indian government, promising its cooperation in bringing the perpetrators of the Pathankot attack to justice. Unlike the blanket denials post the Mumbai and other terror attacks, Pakistan has shown the willingness to investigate the alleged role of the JeM, the banned organisation run by Masood Azhar, brother of the hijacker of the Indian Airlines Flight 814, with the event ending in the release of Azhar from an Indian prison in exchange of four hostages. The JeM is also alleged to be behind the December 25, 2003 suicide attack on General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, which makes its recent resurgence in Pakistan all the more incomprehensible, and a glaring failure of security and governance protocol.

Notwithstanding the absence of any proof to link Pakistan’s government, military and security establishment to the Pathankot attack, the onus is on Pakistan to do the right thing. It is the Pakistan government’s responsibility to ensure no terror attack is planned and executed from its soil. That no Pakistani is involved in acts of terrorism within the country and outside. That no Pakistani carries out an act of mayhem in another country without any fear of accountability. It is also the responsibility of our military courts to ensure due dispensation of justice, without any compartmentalisation. It is the duty of our security and intelligence agencies to ascertain facts and cooperate with their Indian counterparts to investigate the attack. Mere tokenism will not suffice: proper cases and the penalisation of perpetrators is required to show Pakistan means business. And it is every Pakistani’s obligation to raise concern about why banned militant organisations are allowed to operate in the country without any fear, and accountability.

No war on terror succeeds in the elimination of terror. Until and unless the eradication of root causes, mindsets, indoctrination, and radicalisation takes place, nothing will change. And the wails of pain will go on. On both sides of the border. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2016.

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