Are we ready to fight or succumb to extremism (My article published in THE NEWS on 22 October 2012)

Pakistan, today, stands isolated internationally, weakened internally and faces a serious existential threat from militancy, brewed within, as well as, externally sponsored. Unfortunately, the nation seems to be divided on the issue; some feel that militancy must be ruthlessly rooted out from our society using all instruments at the disposal of the state while there are others who do not even consider it a threat and endorse extremism and militancy on one pretext or another. To understand the nature of this division and reasons for lack of will to deal with the issue of militancy, there is a need to dispassionately analyze the factors which have contributed to putting us in this quagmire.  Correct identification of the issue is imperative if we are to pursue any solutions.

I may start with the historical perspective. The history of our region reveals that, through centuries, Muslim warriors from the North (Afghanistan and beyond) have been invading the fertile lands of Punjab and further south on one pretext or another, often using religion as an instrument, ruled and ultimately merged with the society. The locals, instead of defending their motherland, mostly succumbed, merely because of the fact that they shared the same faith. Talibanization is another manifestation of the same phenomenon; some people construe it as Islam’s resurgence and gradually succumbing, as their ancestors.

Our ideological leaning is yet another factor; Pakistan was created on the basis of Two-Nation Theory, whereby religion was used as an instrument to achieve independence. Though the Quaid-e-Azam never meant Pakistan to be a theocratic state, the religious parties, soon after independence took to the streets and gave Pakistan an ideological orientation. No doubt, the ideology provided the new state with a strong base to exist, but since then, it has also provided the religious clergy with the leverage to use it for pursuance of their individual agendas.

This ideological orientation peaked during President Zia’s rule when he decided to serve as USA’s proxy and a deliberate decision was taken to recruit and train the ‘Jehadis’ for fighting in Afghanistan. He also wooed the religious parties to perpetuate his rule. Consequently, there was a mushroom growth of ‘Mujahideen’ groups, especially after their victory against the Soviet forces. The USA, after achieving her objective, left the region leaving Pakistan in the lurch and nothing was done to bring back diehard Mujahideen in the mainstream.

Government’s decision to join the coalition forces in WOT after 9/11 caused further division in the masses, aggravated by the fact that even as partners there was little convergence of interests between USA and Pakistan. As such, despite the fact that TTP’s certain undertakings are clearly against the state and they have taken ownership of thousands of Pakistanis killed, a considerable majority of the masses, especially those living in the rural areas and remain under the influence of religious clergy, consider their struggle as legitimate. Obviously, they do not differentiate between TTP and the Afghan Taliban, despite the divergence of their objectives – the former is pursuing take-over of the state of Pakistan while the later is fighting to oust the foreign forces from their motherland.

Unfortunately, owing to this mind-set of the masses or fear of reprisal, the political leadership is reluctant to take a firm stand against the militants and some even prefer to act as apologists. Resultantly, there is a lack of consensus – an imperative if we want to defeat militancy.

Extremism thrives in the environment of anarchy, disillusionment, poverty, illiteracy, general discontent, social injustice and lack of governance as these provide environment conducive for recruitment by militant groups. In Pakistan, we suffer from all such ailments and, as such, defeating extremism would remain a far-fetched dream unless the misgivings of the masses are removed through better governance.

Hitherto, barring Malala’s incident, the media has not played a defining role in making people aware of the looming threat posed by extremism. Most of the anchor persons / panelists either refrain from discussing the extremist militant groups or try to justify their actions by putting blame on the policies of the government. This trend would, surely, is a recipe for disaster. Extremism can best be checked through AWARENESS of the masses, for which electronic media can play an effective role.

These days there is a lot of talk about military operation in North Waziristan. In this regard, my submission is that if extremism and militancy could be defeated by military operations alone, the world’s most powerful countries, NATO / USA, would have achieved success in Afghanistan. The fact is that even after 11 years of commencement of Operation Enduring Freedom and spending over US$500 billion, they have so far failed to defeat the Taliban. As such, it is my considered opinion that any military operation in North Waziristan would be counter-productive. Instead, effective covert operations would pay greater dividends if launched after identifying different militant groups – ideologically motivated, foreign sponsored or criminals - and then dealing with them, accordingly.

If by compulsion, a military operation is required to be undertaken in a particular area against anti-Pakistan elements, foreign sponsored militants and criminals, it must be conducted after shaping the right environment, a domain of the political leadership. The steps deemed necessary are; (1) The operation should be legitimized by the parliament unequivocally, taking full ownership (2) It must be out rightly supported by the masses in general, media, the political leadership and, most importantly, the religious clergy (3) Massive rebuilding and political measures be undertaken in FATA to isolate the militant groups from the other tribesmen (4) Under no circumstances impression be created that the operation is being conducted on behest of USA or on her dictation.

To conclude, we can only fight extremism if we, somehow, break the shackles of our misplaced ideological leaning, develop consensus, improve governance and demonstrate the will as a nation to tackle this threat upfront. The big question; Are we up to it or, as always, embracing to succumb?