Nurseries of hate

The interview run by Express 24/7 with Umar Fidai, the 14-year-old would-be suicide bomber, was revealing for many reasons. It confirmed, for one, that there are a lot of foreigners among the militants. According to Umar, Arabs, Tajiks and Uzbeks are among those receiving training in North Waziristan. Since so many of the international terrorist plots that have been uncovered over the last decade have been found to have originated in Pakistan, which seems to have become a hub and training ground for foreign militants, this was something that was already suspected and has now been proven by someone who was in their midst. Since the government writ barely applies in North Waziristan and other tribal areas, there seems to be very little that can be done to stop their influx. This adds strength to the idea being strongly advocated by the US, that a military operation in North Waziristan is the only way to tackle militancy.

Umar also revealed that there were some Punjabis among the 350 or so men that he saw receiving training. This, too, does not come as a shock to most, but it does belie the words of the provincial government in Punjab, which has sought to downplay the threat of the Punjabi Taliban. In fact, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had denied that such a thing as the Punjabi Taliban even exists, claiming that talk of it was simply a ploy to create differences between the provinces. Umar’s interview should serve to force Sharif to get his head out of the sand and acknowledge the very real threat his province, and the rest of the country, faces.

Above all, Umar’s interview has put a human face on the destruction extremism has caused in Pakistan. It is very hard to blame a teenager who lost his father in a blast and who apologised to the nation for the actions he was about to undertake and for becoming embroiled with terrorist outfits. That he found himself in this position is not his fault. It is the fault of a government that has forsaken the most vulnerable and, above all, the militants who have no regard for human life.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th,  2011.