How the pen and guitar can defeat the Taliban

To defeat the Taliban in Pakistan, it’s time to empower the country’s greatest weapon: its youth. As much as — if not more than — bombs and bullets, Pakistan’s 120 million-strong under-25 population is the country’s best hope against the Frankensteins that killed 148 people (mostly women and children) in cold blood at Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS) on December 16, 2014. That dark day may have been the defining moment when Pakistanis realised once and for all that without being unified against the cancer of extremism, violence and hate, our entire nationhood and future is at stake. What we need to fight this cancer with is a Sehatmand (healthy, tolerant, educated, peaceful) Pakistan, with the country’s youth at its core.

As an ambassador for Rotary Pakistan, I’ve spoken to youth around the country about eradicating polio. It’s now time to build on that campaign — which the Taliban has also targeted, killing several dozen women working to fight polio. We can’t let another student die or another polio worker be killed. But no real progress can be made without creating the larger movement for a Sehatmand Pakistan. To change the conversation from despair to hope and to inspire purposeful action, stakeholders, including the state and civil society should work to promote a new model of community service and empowered student ambassadors.

Sehatmand Pakistan is a vision of an awakened nation at peace with itself and the world. Partnering with educational institutions, non-profit organisations and social entrepreneurs, I have agreed to do fundraisers to support all those who are willing to work for a Sehatmand Pakistan. Once chosen by their peers and teachers, the student ambassadors will begin to identify people and families in need within their communities across Pakistan and work to get them books, tutoring, food and medicine.

I’m eager to support this kind of work and am calling on my fellow Pakistanis to join and build this movement. In 2015, we will visit schools, colleges and madrassas in Pakistan for town hall-style meetings and lectures, honouring and rewarding high-achieving students and selfless teachers. We will also be providing inspiration through music, poetry and financial support. Pakistani icons, artists and opinion-makers can all play a significant part in empowering youth. Culture can unite what the Taliban have tried to divide. The pain that lingers from the Peshawar attack is overwhelming. But in gnawing away at the soul, it must help us all refocus on our purposes in life.

For inspiration, I think of the courageous principal of APS, Tahira Kazi and Afsha Ahmad, the 24-year-old teacher, who, when confronted with imminent danger, chose to protect their children rather than opt for personal safety. Something deep from within their consciousness gave these two brave women the power to stand up to monsters, instead of running away from death. Their heroism wasn’t pre-rehearsed; it was the spontaneous action of purpose-driven individuals; exactly the kind of individuals who would make for perfect ambassadors in Sehatmand Pakistan. They sacrificed their lives so that others could live. Both women, including the 148 who died in Peshawar, are true mujahids and shaheeds who have galvanised an entire nation.

Another such individual is Aakif, an 18-year-old student who defied the Taliban by saying, “You can take away my teachers, my friends, I’m still here in my uniform — I’ll go back to school.” It’s my hope that one day, kids like Aakif will grow up to see a country with zero tolerance for militancy in politics and religion, and an empowered justice system that aggressively prosecutes thugs like those who attacked the Peshawar school on December 16.

We can start building that society right now. The government, arts and culture leaders, businesspeople and others can invest in education and a Sehatmand Pakistan and help to cultivate what the Taliban sought to destroy on that awful day. The Peshawar attack should be the last time, ever that women and children have to shed blood to awaken Pakistanis to unite against extremism. The poet Rumi said that the wound is the place where the light enters. Pakistan was wounded on December 16. But out of this tragedy will come light. And our youth, God-willing, will be the shining examples for the country to follow.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th,  2015.

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