Recognising our heroes

The events of this last week are telling. Between the deaths of young Aitzaz Hasan, who stopped a suicide bomber from entering a school and taking many more lives, and SP Muhammad Aslam Khan, an officer who fearlessly took on the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Karachi, there is a message: there are people in the country willing to give up their lives to stand up to violent extremists.

The fact is that while these are the most recent and high-profile cases of such conviction, they are not the first and in all possibility, will not be the last. Security personnel, soldiers and policemen alike, are martyred almost on a daily basis, while the stories of civilians being targeted or killed for their courage are aplenty. One doesn’t need to go further than the case of another young student, named Malala Yousufzai.

Unfortunately, this conviction seems to be in stark contrast to the reserved and almost pusillanimous line often being toed by most of our political leadership with regard to violent extremists, most notably the TTP. One is hard-pressed to pinpoint where exactly our political leaders stand when such tragedies occur — with the notable exception of a young, but as yet uncapped, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. We know that the government wants to talk to the TTP — and that is fine as long as it has a strategy in mind and given that it has the mandate to pursue peace talks.

Yet, the monotone and metronomic manner in which this strategy has been pursued over the last few months seems less like steadfastness and more like a frightened retreat in the face of adversity by authorities that seem to have no strategy but a one-dimensional mindset that this is a war we cannot win or even fight. That’s not what a young Hasan or an undeterred SP Aslam seem to have thought when they gave their lives.

In any case, every time a shocking event such as their deaths comes about, our political leaders are not even willing to take the sort of hard line that they should — even for the short period that follows such tragedies, and even if it means returning to the negotiating table later. There is no message of conviction, of such acts being intolerable.

Conversely, consider that the TTP immediately broke off all talks with the government, and even launched a number of attacks in the wake of the death of their leader Hakeemullah Mehsud last year — and have done so following the death of many of their other commanders too in the past. What, then, have our political leaders done in the wake of the deaths of Hasan and Aslam?

The ruling party of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the home province of Hasan, has sought a medal of honour for the young martyr, but, at the same time, stressed it wants to continue to pursue talks despite the events. What about, at least, some hard and unreserved condemnation for the assailants and the mindset they represent by virtue of wanting to kill students? What about a warning at least? The same party took to criticising the government in the wake of SP Aslam’s assassination and there is now a political blame game that has erupted in the wake of the officer’s death. This at a time that the nation is still celebrating these heroes.

Expressing sorrow and grief over the deaths of heroic countrymen is not enough; their murderers and supporters must be condemned and shown that they cannot get away with this — peace talks or no peace talks. Their deaths must not be in vain. The violent extremists are committed to their designs, continuing their attacks and terrorising our people, while a number of Pakistanis are committed to thwarting them, standing bloodied but unbowed.

Meanwhile, in the middle are our political leaders, dishonouring the sacrifices of our brave — young and old, from Karachi to Hangu — by shirking the message of martyrdom.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2014.

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