The existential
threat is not terrorism, Mahmood Adeel
I had planned to write a short piece about this week’s suicide attack, but then there was another one. And another one. And then there was another one. The big one. Lal
Shahbaz shrine attacked and close to 100 innocents killed, with hundreds more
wounded.
This wasn’t supposed to be possible. Gen Raheel had broken the back of terrorists. Gen Bajwa
reassured us, terrorism had successfully been
defeated. The war was over. We won. Yes, there were still some acts of
violence, but these were acts of sabotage by foreign agencies who wanted to derail CPEC. Or PSL.
A foreign conspiracy
could be found for every attack, and we were told that if it wasn’t for world
powers fear of our coming rise to super power status, this would be a land of
peace and prosperity. But what economic route runs through Lal Shahbaz? What
cricket tournament was being hosted there? What sensitive installations were
hidden underneath? The only thing there was a crowd of common Pakistanis
looking for peace.
Lal Shahbaz blast was a wake up call. The state swiftly
responded with promises of ‘no more restraint for anyone’. The nation was now
in a state of ‘all out war.’ The words were right, but they were met with
confusion. What does this mean ‘no restraint against anyone’? Wasn’t that the
National Action Plan that is now two years old? What does this mean ‘all out
war’? Wasn’t that Zarb-e-Azb launched three years ago? If now we are done showing restraint, does that mean we have been lied
to since before?
What came next left even more questions. Under what authority
does GHQ summon foreign diplomats? Is the state really so gullible to
allow militants to enter Pakistan if they ‘disavow terrorism‘? Why are we sealing Torkham border when the militants are coming from
places like Multan? The state’s
response to this week’s terror operations has been to repeat the same old
script. Terrorists are foreign agents. We will not rest until they are stopped.
Problem is, we have heard it all before. What is new this time?
Many so-called ‘liberal’ writers and bloggers have been
criticised for not supporting Army’s efforts against terrorism since the past
few years. But is reality ‘liberal’ or is it just reality? On this blog we have
warned that terrorism was flourishing
despite Zarb-e-Azb. We noted that despite all claims that terrorists were
foreigners, it was always Pakistanis being arrested. We warned that double-standards for different
militants was a dangerous
policy that would undermine our security. Every time, we are accused of being
‘anti-Army’. But everything we reported was just reality. It wasn’t anti-Army,
even if it was critical of national security strategy. If national security
strategy is in conflict with reality, isn’t it actually pro-Army to let them know?
Some in our agencies
have tried to bend reality to match their national security strategy. It is a
complete and total failure, and the damning evidence are the innocent lives
lost in this week’s terrorist attacks. Terrorism is not the existential threat
to Pakistan. The existential threat to Pakistan is the desire to bend reality
to match our national security strategy instead of adapting our strategy to
match reality. If we cannot do that, I’m afraid there is not much hope for us.
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