Adil Najam
Pakistan is in tears today. Yet again.
70+ people are dead in Wah today, as yet another cursed suicide bomber targets Pakistan and Pakistanis. The Tehrik-i-Taliban has taken responsibility for them. Only two days ago, 32 people were killed in a suicide attack on a hospital in the northern town of Dera Ismail Khan. Meanwhile incursions and attacks into Pakistani territory by American forces continue and fighting between militants and Pakistani forces rages in Bajur and other areas, killing even more.
In what continues to be war on and in Pakistan, Pakistanis continue to die. Pakistan continues to cry.
Some will call it the largest legacy of the Musharraf years. Some will read unstated messages within this murder and mayhem by these killers. Others will see it as the price in dead bodies that Pakistan pays in the War on Terror. Yet others will remind us that this is reaping what Gen. Zia-ul-haq sowed. There will be, I am sure, plenty more pontifications too – ranging from the absurd to the absurdly profound.
All I know is that today, yet again, Pakistanis die. Pakistan continues to cry.
Why must this murder and mayhem continue? I ask. When will it end? These, of course, are absurd questions themselves. Because we all know the answers. It will continue for as long as we let the killers kill and support their murders with our silence. Silence, of course, also kills. And some are condemned to cry silently.
It is really time that there be a full crackdown on all Madrassas in Pakistan. It is from there that these generations of killers are emerging. Musharraf’s fault was that he did not clamp down on these mullahs harder when he could have.
I really don’t understand the problem with these lunatics. Why don’t they settle in Afghanistan and leave us alone. The most funny thing is that they say they are fighting in the way of Allah. You got to be kidding me. Dont even know the meaning of Jihad. Silly people!! Because of them Muslims are called terrorists all over the world. What Islam are they following? They are not Muslims because they have invented their own religion, a religion of terrorism. Only a miracle can save Pakistan from these sick bastards. All we can do is pray for Pakistan.
This issue is more complicated than many comments here make it. A BIG part of the problem is that ther eis a large and growing community in Paksitan of religious parties like Jamaat, JUI, even PML(N), and of these born-again types who de facto support the cause of these extremists. Not by actual action but by convuluting Islam to justify these murderous actions. And there are too many of these people. Thea re everywhere, in every family, in every comment section, and growing. They are not ACTIVE supporters but they essentially create a false argument that somehow these Taliban were “forced” to take up these murders and its really not tehir fault. These people are teh real support base of these killers and enemies of Pakistan. Until their argument and strength is somehow controlled and reversed, the taliban will keep growing.
Saying all this while sitting in the foreign lands does nothing to the improvement of the situation, I believe. I read through these comments and they sound so similar to political slogans we
> The problem is, which version of shariah will they impose?
The funny thing is, that Quaid-e-Azam advocated that Pakistan be a state where full freedom of religious, cultural and ethnic rights be maintained and allowed. Nothing but a secular state would allow that to happen.
This is very sad news, and this hit me personally as well. I have been to Wah Cantt numerous times. What I found each time I went there was how the place was progressing rapidly through construction. It was a also an unbelievably clean place with scenic views.
My question to the Pakistan authority is: What will happen in the aftermath of this bomb blast? Whenever an incident of this kind occurs, the politicians produce a round of condemnations, and move onto other things as if nothing happened. Now the central military complex of the country, described one of the most “sensitive places,” has also been rocked by one of the most devastating bomb blasts. First hospitals, sometimes funerals, sometimes police stations and now one of the most guarded places within Pakistan – the military complex, has been attacked. There truly is no safe place in Pakistan right now.