Adding injury to insults

Degree of demoralisation our law-enforcement agencies have suffered was evident from Sikandar episode on August 15.

The makers of Loony Tunes would be pleased if they saw our approach towards fighting a war. The funniest thing about these cartoons is that their characters never die. No matter how much suffering he’s been through, after being flat for a second, the character pops back up good as new. Willy nilly we have fought a war for over a decade and yet, we have been off our game from the very start. In our surreal state of denial, we have fooled ourselves into believing that life goes on despite all hell breaking loose and that if we shut our eyes, the problem will simply go away. Shutting our eyes only helps our enemies because they regroup, organise and multiply. Meanwhile, good, brave people like Benazir Bhutto, Bashir Bilour and countless others, both in uniform and civvies, keep dying and they sure are not going to pop right up from their graves.

I have ascribed it all to our national resilience but resilience is only possible when you are cognisant of actual threats. Clearly, that is not the case here. We don’t own or truly honour the memory of the fallen, try forgetting all about them and in a heartbeat, start defending their assailants. No, this is punch drunk Stockholm Syndrome that has cost us an arm and a leg already and yet, we refuse to even introspect. But, guess what? We do not have an endless supply of brave men and women. When the fighting forces see how thankless we are, they lose all initiative. And then we take the mickey out of them in our cosy talk shows and living rooms.



The degree of demoralisation that our law-enforcement agencies have suffered was quite evident from the Sikandar episode on August 15. For five hours, a single man, brandishing and firing stray bullets, had them by short and curlies. It took one Zamrud Khan to expose the empty threats of a charlatan who had, with surprising support of our colleagues in the media, held us all hostage for five hours. Forces all over the world take calculated risk in order to diffuse a crisis but for five hours, we didn’t see someone even hurling a stone at the man, who in any case, was only a stone throw away and could have easily been knocked down. There is nothing wrong with being far from perfect but in most cases, no one even bothered to try.

I do not buy this hooey that we cannot own the war because there is no public appetite for it. Am I to believe that after imposing dictatorial regimes on us for half our history, our state has suddenly gone soft, democratic and gooey on us? I think not. The forces that keep the consensus know how to manufacture consent. If you do not believe that just open your eyes. Why is there almost consensus against drone strikes, Indian influence in Balochistan, border violations like Salala, Abbottabad and even the LoC? Why then do we need All Party Conferences in the name of forging consensus in the fight against terror? To pass the buck?

In our veritable festival of errors, we are forgetting that we are losing the best and the bravest among us with the speed of light. And for those who are left behind, we are not setting great examples. Somebody said that Zamurd Khan should be given a Nishaan-e-Haider, the country’s greatest gallantry award. I know he doesn’t qualify. But there are many in this war who do. These were simple, honest and patriotic sons and daughters of this country who perished bravely fighting in the war because we asked them to. Now we do not even have this much shame left in us to honour their memories, to own them, to call them our heroes?

Whenever we are ambushed by temporary lulls in the name of momentary peace, we should introspect and try coming up with imaginative solutions. In his address to the nation, the prime minister showed moral courage and leadership by refusing to rule out any option in tackling terrorism. His team should now walk that talk. Either own up sir or surrender. This war has gone on for long enough to make us sober by now.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2013.

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