Peshawar school attack: a final turning point

As I started on my daily assignments today, the Taliban attack on military-run school in Peshawar plagued me with so many questions that I became quite distracted. The ghastly incident forced me to write about it, as the story spread globally, stunning and shocking everyone, opening an international-level discourse.

There has been a general acceptance that this is a national tragedy as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif rushed to the scene. Political leaders, civil society members, lawyers, judges and civilians condemned the barbaric attack in which over 130 children were killed.

I was asked several questions: Was this a reaction of the ongoing military offensive —operation Zarb-e-Azb — in North Waziristan? Does the civilian government fail to protect its children?

When we have already lost more than 50,000 people and our economy suffered losses estimated up to Rs8.1 trillion to terror, then why does our trumpeted internal national security policy still seem a non-starter? Who is responsible for all this? Who will protect us and our children?

In my work, I have repeatedly addressed the problem of why our counterterrorism authorities — the National Counter Terrorism Authority (Nacta) and National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) and intelligence agencies are continuously failing to stop these grisly attacks. The federal government always passes the buck to provinces and uses the Eighteenth Amendment as a weapon to defend its incompetence.

Why we are still not accepting the fact that this is our war and that extremism is a real national issue? We are yet to make a solid strategy about fighting against the cowardly militants who are killing innocent children in the name of God.

I hope the Peshawar school tragedy ends up serving as a final turning point. We send our children to schools but collect their bodies from hospitals. This is what we have been witnessing since 2003. We, as one nation, will have to stand united against this brutality. The government and military will have to show new approaches in this war.

The government will have to revamp its policy pertaining to Nacta and NCMC and other civilian intelligence agencies by providing them more manpower and funds for better coordination. We will have to make civilian institutions like police stronger to relieve pressure on our armed forces who are guarding us everywhere.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2014.