A struggle without an end

Repeated atrocities committed against the citizens of Pakistan by anti-state elements have had a demoralising effect on the public. They have also had the unfortunate effect of making the public immune to the numerous onslaughts. People are no longer stunned or shocked when they read about an attack on a police or army post, a school or a mosque; a suicide bomber who blows himself up killing dozens of others; or a man who slays a woman on the flimsy excuse of preserving a family’s honour. The snatching of mobile phones, jewellery and wallets at traffic signals, where the victims are usually women or families, is a regular feature of life in the port city and shows no signs of abating. At times this happens in the vicinity of a four-wheeler crammed full of fierce-looking armed guards. They don’t interfere. Their job is to guard the freeloaders in the assemblies enjoying a sinecure. There is no reaction when this happens. Just a sense of gratitude if one comes out of an encounter alive. This is followed by … acres of silence. Crime on the scale one witnesses in Karachi has now come to be accepted as the norm. Nobody gives a fig.

The gruesome incident of the Mossad-like assault on Karachi airport, which was followed by another attack close by a couple of days later are just two isolated episodes in a never-ending dispute with the militants. People all over the country were electrified by the shocking awfulness of it all. It was a huge boiling story. Local and international television channels lapped it up. The footage demonstrated to the West that the war on terror is far from over in this country. It was referred to as an act of revenge. However, it isn’t simply a case of reprisals against men in uniform. Civilians also die in these incidents, quite a few of them. Reprisals beget reprisals and the way things are, it looks like the struggle will continue for many years to come… until one party or the other throws in the towel.



In this unequal battle, where there is a heavy air of foreboding hovering over the citizens’ heads, the intolerable heat, the desperate shortage of water caused by both corruption and gross mismanagement, the occasional breakdown of power supply due in no small measure to the non-payment of bills by government agencies and the brooding menace of regular strikes during which cars and shops are burnt, and buses are immobilised, the citizen is expected to carry on a normal life. Against this background of anarchy and a breakdown of administration, one occasionally hears some bright young spark in a talk show on the telly telling us that we are not a failed state… just a grossly mismanaged one. As if there is a difference.

The menace of militancy and extremism is a global phenomenon. The US State Department has listed 57 terrorist groups and India has chalked up 34. The aggression is worrisome for the whole nation. People are tired of the violence and the government’s perceived inability to end it, despite repeated military operations. The problem has been complicated by the fact that there is no single group of militants but a cluster of them each with its own agenda and programme. While their goals might differ, all of them appear to be united in their resolve to disturb the stability and equilibrium of the state. One mustn’t forget the criminal elements which include activists from political parties. One can only hope and pray that a solution can be found… before it is too late.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2014.

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