Giving the general his due
Give the general his due. He opted for a route fraught with peril. His stock since then has risen phenomenally.
The writer works for the Punjab Information Technology Board. He is a graduate of the University of Warwick, UK
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I — I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference,” waxed lyrical the iconic American poet, Robert Frost. He would often employ rustic settings in his poetry to examine complex social issues and his depictions of rural life were vivid, his mastery of relating the bucolic imagery to the mundane existence in the simplest of words unparalleled. General Raheel Sharif made a choice too and that has made all the difference. A deliberate choice or a compulsion imposed by circumstances, we can speculate endlessly. It, however, meant shaking off the encumbering, scared national security doctrine and going against the entrenched discourse. What we are absolutely sure of is that it was a courageous choice in good faith and has brought Pakistan back from the brink.
Ask the man on the street. The heave of relief is palpable and the adulation for the General unmistakable. I was in Karachi recently and made it a point to engage every taxi driver I met on the law and order situation and if the Rangers’ operation had made any difference. Each one of them lavished credit on Raheel Sharif. “I feel safer and even drive to areas where I would not dare before the operation,” a driver gushed. The Karachi operation in tandem with Operation Zarb-e-Azb has positively given the terrorised people of Pakistan a sense of security, a breather from suicide attacks, targeted killings and extortion. That said, there is the counter-perspective too. Babar Sattar in a recent article makes a powerful argument in questioning the thriving existence of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Jamaatud Dawa of Hafiz Saeed. He is unequivocal in urging the establishment to sweep all non-state actors with the same broom, terming these organisations nurseries of terrorism. Couldn’t agree more. I seriously hope we have completely abandoned the non-state actors we lovingly nurtured over decades.
Is Operation Zarb-e Azb enough? No. The battle against extremism has to be waged on both the ground and in the hearts. This is where the National Action Plan (NAP) comes in. Let me first acknowledge the commendable role of the civilian government in owning the war against terrorism. The APS tragedy left Pakistan stunned, compelling Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to spell out a comprehensive action plan to rid the country of extremism. The NAP was born and every point in the plan made sense. The progress on it though remains a moot point. At a recent press conference, Chaudhry Nisar was dismissive when one of the journalists raised the issue of Abdul Aziz’s defiant hate speech and miffed when the pace of the implementation of the NAP was questioned. No denying that some of the points in the NAP have already been implemented, such as the establishment of military courts, the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty and execution of terrorists. Guess that is about it. Regulation of madrassas, dissemination of the counter-narrative, Fata reforms, strengthening of Nacta, checking the re-emergence of proscribed outfits under different names and revamping the criminal justice system remain pipedreams. The Punjab government is running a fantastic programme overseen by the Punjab Information Technology Board called “Peaceful Pakistan”. It uses social media to promote a positive image of Pakistan, interfaith harmony and tolerance. Being run by a youthful and highly creative team, initiatives of this kind deserve to be expanded to all forms of media to increase outreach and impact.
A word about people who die in terrorist attacks. People who stand up to terrorists do not die in vain as some confused souls would have us believe. Let’s not trivialise their deaths by calling them unnecessary martyrs and let’s not use every terrorist incident to bash the army for its past sins. Civilians have been no less complicit. Pakistan is trying to turn over a new leaf and we must stand behind the armed forces and the government in this war of survival. And civilians must do their bit by pushing the counter-narrative through the media, mosques and madrassas. Professor Hamid Hussain and Aitzaz Hasan are rallying points to galvanise the nation against extremism. So are the deaths of the jawans and policemen laying down their lives for us. Give the general his due. He opted for a route fraught with peril. His stock since then has risen phenomenally. That he needs to do more goes without saying. His linking of corruption and terrorism is not misplaced either. We tend to discount corruption as a lesser sin and not an existential threat like extremism. Wrong. Extremism scares more as it spills blood, violently tearing society apart. Corruption, on the other hand, slowly and quietly eats into the very value system, suffocating society to death.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2016.
Ask the man on the street. The heave of relief is palpable and the adulation for the General unmistakable. I was in Karachi recently and made it a point to engage every taxi driver I met on the law and order situation and if the Rangers’ operation had made any difference. Each one of them lavished credit on Raheel Sharif. “I feel safer and even drive to areas where I would not dare before the operation,” a driver gushed. The Karachi operation in tandem with Operation Zarb-e-Azb has positively given the terrorised people of Pakistan a sense of security, a breather from suicide attacks, targeted killings and extortion. That said, there is the counter-perspective too. Babar Sattar in a recent article makes a powerful argument in questioning the thriving existence of the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Jamaatud Dawa of Hafiz Saeed. He is unequivocal in urging the establishment to sweep all non-state actors with the same broom, terming these organisations nurseries of terrorism. Couldn’t agree more. I seriously hope we have completely abandoned the non-state actors we lovingly nurtured over decades.
Is Operation Zarb-e Azb enough? No. The battle against extremism has to be waged on both the ground and in the hearts. This is where the National Action Plan (NAP) comes in. Let me first acknowledge the commendable role of the civilian government in owning the war against terrorism. The APS tragedy left Pakistan stunned, compelling Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to spell out a comprehensive action plan to rid the country of extremism. The NAP was born and every point in the plan made sense. The progress on it though remains a moot point. At a recent press conference, Chaudhry Nisar was dismissive when one of the journalists raised the issue of Abdul Aziz’s defiant hate speech and miffed when the pace of the implementation of the NAP was questioned. No denying that some of the points in the NAP have already been implemented, such as the establishment of military courts, the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty and execution of terrorists. Guess that is about it. Regulation of madrassas, dissemination of the counter-narrative, Fata reforms, strengthening of Nacta, checking the re-emergence of proscribed outfits under different names and revamping the criminal justice system remain pipedreams. The Punjab government is running a fantastic programme overseen by the Punjab Information Technology Board called “Peaceful Pakistan”. It uses social media to promote a positive image of Pakistan, interfaith harmony and tolerance. Being run by a youthful and highly creative team, initiatives of this kind deserve to be expanded to all forms of media to increase outreach and impact.
A word about people who die in terrorist attacks. People who stand up to terrorists do not die in vain as some confused souls would have us believe. Let’s not trivialise their deaths by calling them unnecessary martyrs and let’s not use every terrorist incident to bash the army for its past sins. Civilians have been no less complicit. Pakistan is trying to turn over a new leaf and we must stand behind the armed forces and the government in this war of survival. And civilians must do their bit by pushing the counter-narrative through the media, mosques and madrassas. Professor Hamid Hussain and Aitzaz Hasan are rallying points to galvanise the nation against extremism. So are the deaths of the jawans and policemen laying down their lives for us. Give the general his due. He opted for a route fraught with peril. His stock since then has risen phenomenally. That he needs to do more goes without saying. His linking of corruption and terrorism is not misplaced either. We tend to discount corruption as a lesser sin and not an existential threat like extremism. Wrong. Extremism scares more as it spills blood, violently tearing society apart. Corruption, on the other hand, slowly and quietly eats into the very value system, suffocating society to death.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2016.