Pakistan and Frankenstein’s monster

Frankenstein was a scientist, who created and brought to life a man-like monster which eventually turned on him and destroyed him. That was fiction written by Mary Shelley in 1818. However, little did the author know that 200 years later his fictional character would become real.

In recent years, Pakistan has had to deal with many monsters. It is ironic, though, that many of those monsters were the direct result of our follies. Some would rightly argue that one can’t ignore the role of external elements inimical to Pakistan or circumstances that were thrust upon us. But the fact remains that it is primarily our internal weaknesses that give external forces a chance to intervene.

Our state and its inaction allowed ordinary individuals and groups to become monsters. Remember the emergence of Taliban in scenic Swat Valley few years ago. The late Mian Gul Aurangzeb, the last Crown Prince of Swat, told me in 2010 that a police inspector could have handled those miscreants had authorities acted at the start. The state, however, looked the other way while Taliban took control of Swat. They were eventually driven out of the valley but not before the country had to endure massive losses.

Lal Masjid was another example of the state’s failure to preempt the radicalisation of young minds by Maulana Abdul Aziz at the heart of Islamabad. The operation could have easily been prevented had authorities moved swiftly enough to tackle the firebrand cleric.

Those two incidents, however, happened before the massacre at the Army Public School in Peshawar in December 2014. The audacious and devastating attack on the APS shook the entire nation. For the first time, a rare consensus emerged on the war on terror. The civil-military leadership agreed to show zero tolerance to any form of terrorism and extremism. That rare show of unity produced a new counter-terrorism strategy, the National Action Plan (NAP). On paper, the strategy was perfect. It has not only proposed steps to eradicate terrorist groups but also showed the way for dealing with extremism.

While there has been noticeable improvement in overall security environment thanks to back-to-back military operations in the tribal areas, the battle against extremism has unfortunately not even been kicked off. We have not only failed to stem the tide of extremism but in reality whatever little gains we may have achieved are now being reversed.

The new counterterrorism strategy was formulated to deal with hatemongers and fanatics. Had the plan been put into practice in earnest, the protest at Faizabad Interchange would have not gone that far. But the sit-in at Islamabad’s busy junction for almost three weeks demonstrates that the NAP is finally dead and buried.

The tragic part is that we haven’t learnt any lesson from the past and as a consequence has allowed yet another individual to become larger than life character. Who is Khadim Hussain Rizvi and how has he risen to prominence within no time? Not long ago, he was just an ordinary cleric teaching at one of the seminaries in Lahore. He entered into the political fray in the recent by-elections held in Lahore and Peshawar where his candidates fared better compared to the old guard. By-poll results gave Rizvi the belief that he can be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming elections. The problem is that the path he has chosen to venture into politics is dangerous. He is openly inciting people to violence and ridiculing judiciary and other institutions. The state has finally swung into action but not before the problem has now become a full blown crisis. This leaves us with a legitimate concern: are we paving the way for yet another monster?

Published in The Express Tribune, November 26^th, 2017.

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