Living in a state of constant apprehension

I noticed that the newspapers, at least the ones that I read, did not wish their readers a happy New Year. Nor did they come up with any resolutions frivolous or otherwise. The usual festivities were also absent. Winter balls in clubs and consulates were cancelled or postponed. Midnight mass for the Christians was more solemn than before. The recent burning of a Christian couple in the presence of their children by an enraged mob in Punjab on an unproven charge of blasphemy was still fresh in their minds. The Taliban threat to bomb all schools, which has delayed the start of the new semester, has also shaken parents in the city who watch, helpless, as they witness and read about the orgies of destruction. Nobody is in a mood to celebrate, and rightly so. The Pakistani Taliban are an implacable and merciless enemy. For years, they have waged a guerrilla war against the military, the plutocrats and the despots, the hopelessly rich and the haughty, the vain and the snobbish. So far as they are concerned, all the beneficiaries of the current system are parasites

The year 2014 has been one of feeling insecure, battered and fearful for the future. While the parents of the deceased are still in a state of mourning after the shock of the massacre in the Army Public School, the incident has sprouted the mother of all conspiracy theories — that the assault was masterminded by the Mossad, the CIA and Raw, acting in concert. The motive? The destabilisation of Pakistan’s nuclear facility. The premise probably has its genesis in the story which did the rounds a number of years ago. Apparently a squadron of Israeli war planes had entered Pakistan airspace with the sole intention of destroying the arsenal of nuclear weapons. However, warned by the intelligence network of a friendly Arab country, Pakistan Air Force fighters intercepted the enemy aircraft and prevented them from inflicting any damage. The story might be apocryphal, but it was widely believed at the time and was a great morale booster.



The country has been in total disarray for a considerable time. The extreme rightist threat which has been fomenting from the brittle days of Ziaul Haq, was fully distilled during the reign of Asif Ali Zardari, where religious parties, normally partisan and flushed with polemic, were debilitated by the halitosis of their own beliefs and were silent on the activities of the extremists. Even the former chief of army staff faced a dilemma. While he recognised the threat posed by the fanatic radicals, he was most reluctant to take them on head on. He is purported to have said something such as the military was not in a position to engage in warfare with the Taliban as this was essentially the task of the Rangers and police; and if they did, military losses would be heavy. It raised a lot of eyebrows in the assemblies where politicians wondered whether the task of the military was limited to defending a country against external threats but also to ensure stability in the country. The main thrust of Asif Ali Zardari’s policies was to ensure that the regime completed its five years. This was trumpeted and heralded as a great accomplishment and a triumph of democracy. Had he taken a little more interest in fighting the extremists instead of doling out portfolios to political rivals, things might have been different in this country. It remains to be seen whether the courts allow the prime minister and the army chief to introduce a swifter and more direct dispensation of justice. Perhaps it is the need of the hour.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2015.

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