The writer has a master’s degree in conflict-resolution from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California and blogs at http://coffeeshopdiplomat.wordpress.com
It is not even clear who will be held accountable for the Peshawar attack. Is the civil authority or the army responsible for the security of Peshawar? Were there intelligence failures and was there internal collusion? Neither have these been investigated, nor is there any visibility on the matter. The public, the only stakeholder in this tragedy, is being kept in the dark and accountability is being woefully ignored.
Even though military courts are the need of the hour and have been for some time, they are certainly not a permanent solution. For instance, most terrorist attacks in Pakistan are carried out by suicidal maniacs. Will these terrorists be tried posthumously? Such a ruling in military courts would merely be symbolic and only give the appearance that the authorities are taking real action. Military proceedings are an incomplete solution in that the trial always follows the event. What is being done to stop the next event before more lives are unnecessarily lost? Those who were and still are responsible should not be allowed to continue the practices which made the Peshawar attack possible. Military courts have added to the ability to resolve a case after the event; now the focus must shift to preventing new tragedies before they occur.
This is more easily said than done, however, since the government is duplicitous in many cases of violence. The Model Town incident where several protestors were killed by police gunfire is one example and the shooting at Gujranwala during Imran Khan’s jalsa is another. The ex-Punjab law minister has ties with terrorists groups such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). Malik Ishaq, the LeJ leader, was actually provided with financial assistance from the Punjab government while he was in prison. the Jamaat-e-Islami also has connections to terrorists. Its previous leader had the nerve to declare militants killed in military operations as martyrs. Meanwhile, the JUI-F is linked to the Taliban, and some black sheep amongst our security agencies are known to be associated with extremist groups. The general public has been increasingly abandoned by the government of Pakistan and is too often left with no other option but to rely upon Amn committees and panchayats for justice. Rhetoric from officials must be put on hold and their broad malfeasance needs to end altogether, otherwise, they should face the fact that they are accomplices to future acts of violence.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 12th, 2015.
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Basically, the definition of a terrorist seems to boil down to good guys versus bad guys. For example in the third crusade to the Middle East the British led by Richard the Lion-heart were good and the brutal Islamics led by Saladin were bad. Moving on to the 21st century the Western crusaders have continued to attack Muslim countries and the Westerners are good and the Muslim defenders are bad. In Pakistan the definition of terrorism is somewhat more complex. There is a diversity of various groupings and depending upon who is the most powerful some are good and other are bad. I compare many Pakistan leaders in the Government and military to the leaders in Whitehall and Britain's military installations. Apart from the fact that some upper class Brits have fair hair I really cannot tell any difference. The big difference appear to be that the lower class Brits tend to be subservient, and Pakistan lower classes due to their diversity are more aggressive and will not tolerate the same put-downs from the greedy upper classes, so they are classified as bad guys or terrorists. I do not see a solution to Pakistan's social upheavals. The tiny upper classes will live in luxury, another 10% will be OK, and and the other eighty odd percent will live a dismal life whilst an uncaring Government will strive to keep the lid from blowing off, and refer to dissenters who get out of hand as terrorists.
Military courts are just one of the twenty points......if the other nineteen are not or selectively acted on, then military courts will be quite useless.
Pakistan does not need military courts. It needed a Pakistani version of AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Protection Act) where the army personnel could not be tried for killing terrorists. Military courts are a danger to Pakistan's budding (but unworkable) democracy. Who is a terrorist? Only the government of the day can decide. Worded definition can also have nuances.
@observer: Musharraf or Abdul Aziz?
A thought provoking article. It is not easy to define terrorism because of various pressure groups. This is the right time to decide, do we want to eradicate terrorism? If yes, we need to very courageous and make the bold decisions. There will be killings and we have to bear it, this is the unpleasant truth. If we want to do it, then why now a proper war plan?
This menace of terrorism is of our making. We need to fight it at various levels. Internally, we need to radicalize mindsets of our people, bring reason and logic to our next generations. The Maddrassa have to go and instead these are to be converted proper public schools. All children attending these institutions is due to economic pressures. I have never seen a well to do person sending his child to such places.
The most immediate concern is to keep the ongoing operation at its best pace. We must have all contingencies ready to meet the threats.
The next important issue is that of our regional and international relations. We need to reconcile with few realities, Afghanistan is an independent state, India is not our enemy, there has to be full cooperation with USA to eliminate terrorism. This will enable us to make a national as well as a regional action plan.
For all this we need to re-channelize our financial resources and probably, education will be the game changer. Let us look for soft security approaches and invest more in human resource development. It is an uphill task, but worth doing.
@author,
You are talking about definition of "good terror" or "bad terror"?
@inderjit sahota: I meant 'Sumjhota' train
@inderjit sahota: Like the terrorists who attacked the Same hora Train or the ones who killed innocent citizens in Guatemala or those who pulled down the Bar Mosque??
World is eager to see if the military courts will ever try members of JuD, JeM and LeT.
The author is asking all the right questions but forgets that the term military by definition is used for those who are trained as professional killers. They are no questions asked in this branch they are but to follo orders to do and die. Is it difficult to imagine what normaly transpires in military courts. Pakistan has motgagaged its democracy and has even gone beyond what occurs in countries which are ruled by military dictators.
Rex Minor
Dear author, Pakistani establishment does not have a straight answer to the point you have raised ... because if they did, there would not be a good Taliban and a bad Taliban ... !!
Very well said. The Taliban is not a physical entity, it is a mindset. The government must, with sincerity and commitment, initiate steps to cleanse the filth of extremism and terrorism which have kept the entire country in apprehensions and now, even, kept the educational system paralyzed by closure of institutes. The forces fighting against terrorism must take the common people into confidence so that the forces are encouraged and reinforced to continue with the plan of eradication of extremism and terrorism, this will be possible only if not a single innocent head is killed at the hand of the forces in the operation to avoid the resentment by those who suffer in this way. As far as, the Talibanization is concerned, the government needs to initiate anti-terrorism drives in the tribal and elsewhere where there is an apprehension and suspicions of the places sanctuarizing those people resort to violence in the country. One other, difficult to achieve but not impossible step, government can take is vacate areas one by one and launch operations and build schools and colleges there. The education must bring a change in the mindset of the people residing in tribal areas. So that, moderateness is taught in them and people could begin loving the motherland and refrain themselves and as well as others from going to take such action which put a blemish on the image of the country.
another Pakistani myopic definition of terror. until pak include every terrorist without exception you will continue to enjoy acts of terror
Ap ki pass kea proof hy k JUI K Talebon k saat link hy?