If any good news is to be found in these detentions of men bent on the killing of ordinary civilians — some of who may ironically be their supporters and sympathisers — it is that this is a considerable success for the intelligence agencies.
It is the long-term creation of an enabling environment that underpins the growth of extremism in Pakistan and allows extremist groups to operate nationally, often with virtual impunity. They have sympathisers countrywide, some of whom provide support and assistance – al Qaeda needs to eat, drink, sleep and recharge its mobile phones like everybody else – and others who merely look in the other direction, turning the proverbial blind eye. Some of these fellow travellers are members of banned organisations, which also continue to operate courtesy of their sympathisers in the forces of law and order. Should we be surprised by this? No, because the police and security forces are a microcosm of wider society. And if wider society has been radicalised over time then so has the police, paramilitary forces and even the army, and this despite increasingly rigorous procedures to identify and weed out extremists.
Consequently, we have reports such as the one about a car somewhere in Lahore that is primed with explosives and has a false number plate. It lacks a driver and a target, but there will be other members of the group still at large and a back-up plan in the event of the prime movers in the atrocity being lifted.
Extremism does not exist in a vacuum neither does it spring up overnight. It requires an enabling environment peopled by sympathisers and an absence of a countervailing narrative that would persuade the wider population on to a more moderate path. There has been no investment in the construction of such a narrative and extremism has been pushing at an open door for years. The failure to reform the curriculum and the education system in broader terms provides much fertile ground for the seeds of extremism to germinate. Those engaged in anti-state extremist activities now are Zia’s children grown up, a crop of dragons teeth. The current generation of schoolchildren are being fed a diet that makes it all too easy for them to be influenced down dark paths in the future.
If any good news is to be found in these detentions of men bent on the killing of ordinary civilians — some of who may ironically be their supporters and sympathisers — it is that this is a considerable success for the intelligence agencies. Lives have been saved, property protected, intelligence gathered. The lesson for Pakistan is that a beast sleeps within, a beast that suckles a yet darker creature. It is up to us, as members of civil society, and as patriotic Pakistanis to eliminate this beast from our midst.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2013.
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The people who shelter them are the worst enemies of the nation.They know fully well what these terrorists are up to,see the daily mayhem unleashed on their neighbors and protective forces by them,and still has the heart to hide and safeguard them.They should also be held accountable for the murders that these people commit.
@Feroz: Agree, they should be appreciated and given full support.
Yes, it's no surprise... it's an open secret.
How could the neighbors don't or can't see or hear while this was going on under their noses. What I hear is that renters will rent any house or apartment to any one with out investigating their back ground for hefty amount of money, greed has no limits. There is this thing called neighborhood watch where neighbors keep track of unusual activities in their neighborhood, and that includes the dorms at the universities and colleges. Another segment of the society, 'the mail man' and other "delivery outfits" should be trained enough to weed out some suspicious characters in the neighborhood. It was strange as it may sound that houses were rented in the posh areas to the CIA operatives like Raymond Davis but no one had any idea what were they up to till he was caught after killing 2 Pakistanis in day light front of others, that was an exercise in extreme arrogance. Why is it so that we are so intimated by white colour people from any where. It is the duty of every Pakistani to keep their eyes open and report immediately to the authorities if they suspect some thing is not up to the par, and the provincial governments should make it mandatory for the rental community to check thoroughly the people who wants to rent their properties, this law could weed out some potential terrorists , it is also in their interest because the authorities will come down hard on them for renting their properties to the terrorists and that goes for the university administration too.
The security personnel should be congratulated and rewarded too when they break up terror modules, considering the wide support enjoyed by terrorists. Good work done.