Adil Najam
The headline screams out that more than 40 people are dead after a heartless and soulless suicide attack on a mosque in Rawalpindi. The story under it tells us that more than half of those butchered are children.
Numb. Enraged. Without words. One stares into space.
How many such headlines have we seen? How many more are we destined to see?
Carnage. Bloodshed. Callousness. Hatred.
These are not things that anyone with a modicum of humanity can become used to. Yet, the world passes us by. Its not even news for the rest of the world. They are too busy worrying about “their” Taliban, to care about what “our” Taliban are doing. In the crazy world that we have manufactured, not every death is created equal. And certainly not every life.
Once again, Pakistanis die. Once again, Pakistanis cry. Alone.
Once again, Pakistanis stare into the darkness of nothingness, looking for answers. There are few words of sympathy from those who claim to be our friends. There are only sneers and jeers from those who are our enemies.
Why, one asks, why? Why do they hate us so?
In this video interview one would-be suicide bomber speaks up. It is harrowing. Listen, if you will, to the voice of hatred. Listen, if you can, to what Pakistan’s enemy sounds like.
Let us turn the question around and ask ourselves: what have we done to make others love us? If we were honest with ourselves we would have to say: precious little. To put it bluntly, the Pakistani society is anything but Islamic – a system which is unable to provide justice and equality for all, and which is universally reviled for its pervasive corruption, is the very antithesis of Islamic teachings. Worse, we are a people devoid of self-esteem, ignorant of the treasure trove in our own backyard, and we cling to the language and culture of people who had ruled over us once.
In my opinion our “Taliban” problem is essentially a social problem, which has taken on a religious hue. The genie of Taliban was spawned by the stark contrast between widespread poverty of ordinary people and the brazen acquisition of wealth by those who found themselves in positions of power – the politicians, the bureaucrats, and the senior officers of our armed forces. Do you really think that the madrassahs, dispensing a degraded form of Islamic teachings which defy common sense, would have flourished but for rampant injustice and poverty in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan?
Since we specialise in hating the Jews, let us take a quick look at their performance. In the diaspora they were lost souls, detested and loathed by all. Then they somehow got hold of a piece of land they called Israel and they never looked back. They revived a dead language, Hebrew, created a strong sense of identity and grew exponentially, culminating in the establishment of a feared nuclear power that can treat the only acknowledged super power in the world with contempt.
We Pakistanis, on the other hand, never tire of blaming others for our misfortunes. True, our weaknesses have been exploited and taken advantage of by others but the root cause of our ills remains our many flaws and imperfections. We get what we deserve, no more and no less. That is how Allah addresses mankind in the Qur’an but we have shut our eyes to its Message and we have turned our Deen into a weird religion which is little more than a form of worship, the rites and rules for which differ from sect to sect.
While we follow a short term strategy to control the Taliban menace we also need to put into effect a long term strategy to remove the conditions which enable religious demagogues to influence impressionable young minds and push them in a direction that leads to a dead end. The short term strategy must also include urgent action against those who have destroyed Pakistan – financially, and in other ways. Starting with the NRO robbers, we need to work back and dispense justice to the great and the good who have ruled Pakistan in the past. Some like Musharraf, and his “chamcha” Shaukat Aziz, probably enjoy the protection and patronage of foreign powers but we need to assert our independence just as Israel has managed to do. If we fail to get rid of the terrible inferiority complex we suffer from, we will for ever be chided and cajoled by others to “do more” even though what we do is far more than anybody else has been able to achieve.
Please click the link below, which will take you to a couple of posts in my blog most relevant to this discussion: “Islam spin” and “Pakistan’s colonial set-up”.
http://sakibahmad.blogspot.com/2009/10/islam-pakis tan-usa.html
http://sakibahmad.blogspot.com/2009/10/slow-pace-o f-pakistans-economic.html
Surprised that more people have not commented on the video in the post. Maybe everyone had seen it before. I saw it for the first time and it sent a chill up my spine. I was literally shivering.
At just how brainwashed this man is but also at how many other are brainwashed to think that such people are not what we should be worrying about.
I don’t know if India is supporting trouble in Pakistan or not. They probably are. I do not care what the Americans want or not want. All I want is for my country to get rid of these vermin of the Taliban. We shoudl not expect anyone else, Americans or other, to help us in this. This is our battle and we have to fight it ourselves.
PAKISTAN ZINDABAD.
@Adnan Siddiqui
“Ironically most of our pro-Indians Pakistanis tend to burry their heads in sand while they are asked to seek truth. We have been constantly reading for last couple of months that Pakistani Army have found concrete evidences of involvement of India in SWaziristan and FATA tribes.”
And so the world is supposed to believe you because of statements from the Pakistani army or govt? The same authorities that said AQ Khan was not proliferating nukes or the one denying that Kasab was not a Pakistani for a month? Give me a break. Please pony up some concrete evidence instead of constantly “compiling” said evidence. As for your alleged “evidence”, Indian weapons??? I have heard that the Talibs use AK-47s, maybe the Russians are involved?? The Mumbai terrorists used Samsung sat phones, maybe the Koreans are in cahoots with the Talibs?
“Our impotent nonMullah govt does not have guts to admit in international forums like UN etc but facts remain same.”
It is your impotent non-mullah govt that is making these allegations in the first place. Sorry but statements from Mr. 10%s goons and the Pak Army are not facts.
Meengla,
This is the first I am hearing of the Soviet-“Indian” nexus in Afghanistan in the 1970s that Pakistan used jihad against. Please don’t create false demons where they don’t exist.
As for the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy, I would oppose it whoever uses it, whether India or Pakistan or anybody else. My national identity has nothing to do with my opinions on this matter. It is for Pakistanis to realize that it was a mistake to support terrorist organizations merely because the targets were people they hated and not themselves. And to reverse these mistakes of the past. For self-preservation if not for any moral reasons.
Some comments from the ATP Facebook Page:
– “MURDERERS, CRIMINALS using children as suicide bombers and killing children in cold blood in the house of worship. FIND THEM AND KILL ‘EM ALL PAKISTAN ARMY. We are with you.”
– “ALLAH help all pakistanes people”
– “we dont need security equipments and financial aids . we just need to become a responsible nation.as always.and why is it the armys responsibility only… we can atleast find them for them to kill. wake up everyone and look around u. tum sab ghar kai bahar koora to saaf rakh nahee saktai. thts also someone elses responsibility.”
– “I hope that despite these attrocities Pakistan can maintain its resolve to rid its land of the barbaric terrorists (taliban and others) for the sake of the future generations. We need to root them out once and for all..inshallah.Tolerance and Peace for all.”
– “Well said, Sir. These Taliban are the true enemies of Muslims and of Pakistanis. We should just forget about the Americans and the Afghans and concentrate only on defeating our enemy.”