Heart of darkness
Imran Khan is leading the charge against sanity, armed with ignorance and a hunger to gain a foothold in Punjab.
The writer is Director News, Express News. He tweets @fahdhusain fahd.husain@tribune.com.pk
Talks with the TTP have started to resemble a magician’s illusion: now you see ‘em, now you don’t.
Mullah Fazlullah now lords over his band of brothers and has declared in unequivocal terms that he will wage ferocious war against the state of Pakistan. With his elevation, his group’s stance is clear: No talks, say the TTP. Please talk, beg our leaders. We will teach you a lesson, say the TTP. Please talk, grovels our leadership. We will hit you hard, say the TTP. Please, please talk with us, plead the politicians.
The contrast isn’t shocking. It’s sickening. To see a mighty nuclear-armed state with a massive army falling on its knees in front of this horde makes one’s stomach turn. It seems we have no policy, no vision, no plan and no will. The state is paralysed by inaction, confusion, fear. Or all three.
Since Fazlullah took the reins of the TTP, Pakistani politicians are bending over backwards to appease him and his men. And plan of action? Perish the thought. The craven leadership that we have is keeping the nation in the dark. Perhaps their outrage at the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud has blinded them to their primary responsibility of telling us what they plan to do next.
Talk to Fazlullah? Fine. But how? What do you say to him? Do you travel to Afghanistan to break bread with him? Do you call a fresh APC so that the likes of Munawar Hassan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman brand Hakimullah Mehsud a ‘shaheed’ while the rest of the craven leadership nods silently in agreement? Do you put together the bumbling Taliban apologists in one room yet again so they pass a resolution blocking Nato supplies and initiate another resolution asking for the nation to embrace Fazlullah in our loving embrace? Do you call a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security and ask the military leadership to make peace with the man who has killed a general, and decapitated scores of our soldiers and officers?
What do you do, huh? For now, the answer is — nothing.
So the interior minister stands in parliament and says we will wait. The minister of state for defence says we cannot do much because the Taliban are angry. And the prime minister? Well, he sports a long face and a sour expression and utters inane statements which mean a whole lot of nothing.
And this is our biggest tragedy. In the face of an existential threat, our leadership is flailing in the wind. Could anything be worse? Actually yes, there is. Not only is the leadership dithering, it is in many ways promoting a poisonous pro-TTP narrative which threatens to drown this nation in a sea of confusion. Using the bully pulpit that they have, politicians like Imran Khan, Fazlur Rehman, Munawar Hassan, and even the prime minister and his interior minister are sowing doubts in the minds of a fractured public opinion. All types of characters belonging to the lunatic fringe are hogging the airwaves and spewing venom in favour of the TTP. Suddenly, mainstream discourse is revolving around the necessity for sharia law replacing the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Sanity is under serious threat, as the lava of loathing and hatred bursts forth from under the societal surface. Rhetoric is spiralling out of control, drilling holes in the belly of our society and dredging up blood, puss and filth that fertilises the toxic narrative of our leaders.
The PPP, the ANP and the MQM are cowed in submission. They dare not stand their ground in the face of this avalanche for fear of being swept aside. Imran Khan is leading the charge against sanity, armed with ignorance, naivete and a hunger to gain a foothold in Punjab at the expense of the PML-N. The Sharifs fear his onslaught and are trying to outdo Khan in their outrage. The maulanas smell blood, though they may have bitten off more than they can chew through their bizarre statements. It’s a circus out there.
And meanwhile, Pakistan slips deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2013.
Mullah Fazlullah now lords over his band of brothers and has declared in unequivocal terms that he will wage ferocious war against the state of Pakistan. With his elevation, his group’s stance is clear: No talks, say the TTP. Please talk, beg our leaders. We will teach you a lesson, say the TTP. Please talk, grovels our leadership. We will hit you hard, say the TTP. Please, please talk with us, plead the politicians.
The contrast isn’t shocking. It’s sickening. To see a mighty nuclear-armed state with a massive army falling on its knees in front of this horde makes one’s stomach turn. It seems we have no policy, no vision, no plan and no will. The state is paralysed by inaction, confusion, fear. Or all three.
Since Fazlullah took the reins of the TTP, Pakistani politicians are bending over backwards to appease him and his men. And plan of action? Perish the thought. The craven leadership that we have is keeping the nation in the dark. Perhaps their outrage at the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud has blinded them to their primary responsibility of telling us what they plan to do next.
Talk to Fazlullah? Fine. But how? What do you say to him? Do you travel to Afghanistan to break bread with him? Do you call a fresh APC so that the likes of Munawar Hassan and Maulana Fazlur Rehman brand Hakimullah Mehsud a ‘shaheed’ while the rest of the craven leadership nods silently in agreement? Do you put together the bumbling Taliban apologists in one room yet again so they pass a resolution blocking Nato supplies and initiate another resolution asking for the nation to embrace Fazlullah in our loving embrace? Do you call a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security and ask the military leadership to make peace with the man who has killed a general, and decapitated scores of our soldiers and officers?
What do you do, huh? For now, the answer is — nothing.
So the interior minister stands in parliament and says we will wait. The minister of state for defence says we cannot do much because the Taliban are angry. And the prime minister? Well, he sports a long face and a sour expression and utters inane statements which mean a whole lot of nothing.
And this is our biggest tragedy. In the face of an existential threat, our leadership is flailing in the wind. Could anything be worse? Actually yes, there is. Not only is the leadership dithering, it is in many ways promoting a poisonous pro-TTP narrative which threatens to drown this nation in a sea of confusion. Using the bully pulpit that they have, politicians like Imran Khan, Fazlur Rehman, Munawar Hassan, and even the prime minister and his interior minister are sowing doubts in the minds of a fractured public opinion. All types of characters belonging to the lunatic fringe are hogging the airwaves and spewing venom in favour of the TTP. Suddenly, mainstream discourse is revolving around the necessity for sharia law replacing the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Sanity is under serious threat, as the lava of loathing and hatred bursts forth from under the societal surface. Rhetoric is spiralling out of control, drilling holes in the belly of our society and dredging up blood, puss and filth that fertilises the toxic narrative of our leaders.
The PPP, the ANP and the MQM are cowed in submission. They dare not stand their ground in the face of this avalanche for fear of being swept aside. Imran Khan is leading the charge against sanity, armed with ignorance, naivete and a hunger to gain a foothold in Punjab at the expense of the PML-N. The Sharifs fear his onslaught and are trying to outdo Khan in their outrage. The maulanas smell blood, though they may have bitten off more than they can chew through their bizarre statements. It’s a circus out there.
And meanwhile, Pakistan slips deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2013.