Talibanization and Climate
Change, two global problems are the buzz of town. Almost every social scientist
is running regressions on terrorism data or playing with the discount rates in
climate models.
Is Talibanization a new thing? NO I don't think so.....Pakistan was created in
the name of religions people could lead their lives according to the principles
of Islam. 1970’s saw another Islamic era where Zia ul Haq tried to enforce Islam
on every citizen. Then our democratic hero Nawaz Sharif attempted to bring
Khilafat in Pakistan. Now we have Talibans who want to run the country
implementing Sharia Law.
I forgot to mention that the complete name of Pakistan is “Islamic Republic of
Pakistan”. A country made in the name of Islam after so much bloodshed. We
killed our neighbors, friends; families got separated to enjoy this freedom. We
divided the sub continent to practice an Islamic code of life. When Talibans are
making our long unfulfilled dream come true we call them brutal animals and
experts say this is not the true philosophy of Islam. How hypocritical!!
Hussain Haqqani quoted President Asif Zardari, in The Daily Show, "'I [Zardari]
will negotiate with them [the Taliban] only to prove that you can't negotiate
with them.” I admire Zardari for his master mind, to prove his hypothesis he
made the peace deal with Talibans and caused such a chaos. There have been more
than 3,000 civilian causalities, destruction, and mass migration of half a
million people. The President values human life so little and is ready to
sacrifice it to prove his political point.
Media has been an effective tool in changing opinions of people; earlier
Pakistan was making demonstrations against US for the drone attacks, but few
weeks later some clips of Talibans, beating a woman, slaughtering Pakistan army
and civilians completely took a 360 degree turn. Civil society started praising
Pakistan and US efforts to eliminate these terrorists. Once they were few miles
away from the capital, educated urbanites loudly expressed that war is the best
solution to stop Talibanization.
Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s documentary “Children of the Taliban” is an interesting
insight how we are creating social classes both pro and anti Taliban. Locals who
are displaced think it’s all because of US and Pakistan is its puppet. Taliban
are good at least they have the courage to face US. Others think Talibans are
creating wave of terror and wants to take them back to dark ages in the name of
religion. There have been more than 30 U.S. missile strikes in the tribal areas
targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders, but civilians become the victims too.
This becomes an easy recruiting tool for the Taliban. In the documentary,
Wasifullah and Abdurrahman are two best friends from the same village, one wants
to join Pakistan army and other is eager to sign up for Taliban. They are ready
to kill each other if they have to. The madrassahs are working like corporations
even during the global financial crisis they are mass producing the human bombs
which are more dangerous than nuclear bombs. According to one Maulana sahib
strong words like Jihad, sacrifice, heaven, Allah are the catalyst which create
unlimited stock of suicide bombers.
It’s been more than a year that Pakistan army is fighting the Talibans. Seventh
largest armed force is unable to overcome a few thousand Talibans. We are such a
benevolent nation as first let them have Swat and later Buner. This might be a
strategy, giving the Taliban some bait, they come out of their hideouts and then
we can kill them. But this killing turned out to be very expensive. Oh by the
way Pakistan has realized that India is not its enemy but Talibans, who are in
the country and not across the borders. The top brass and the President assure
that we can win this war but the soldiers who fight at the front share a gloomy
story. They think if same military operations continue we cannot win against
Talibans. It’s the same lesson we can learn from US, spending billions of
dollars and sacrificing so many soldiers for the last eight years but still
haven't won war against terrorism.
We need a Islamic Pakistan where our own culture, morals and values breeds,
rather than borrowing from neighbors or west. Win the hearts of people by
development and not by war.