Pakistan - This round of war can and should be won

Pakistan has been trapped in the vortex of terrorism for almost two decades - beginning off in 1987 when Karachi's Bohri Bazaar or Saddar was hit by back-to-back car bombings; and the death toll crossed the 200 mark. But the way we the people and the government have reacted and responded to the Peshawar school massacre, it seems as if this happened in the country for the first time. No doubt this was the ultimate in savagery, too treacherous to go unnoticed even by the most stone-hearted. No wonder it is Pakistan's 9/11, and has triggered a whole range of moves and actions to cleanse the polity of this curse of terrorism once and for all. But the irony is that what is now planned and executed should have been the case much before; the incidence of terrorism has ebbed and flowed over all these years. In the past too, anti-terrorism legislation was done, special anti-terrorism forces were raised and night-long vigils as civil society's expression of solidarity with the victims were held. But the unforgiving reality on the ground did not change - essentially because the so-called follow-up action went missing. Isn't it a fact that the same political party's top leadership had placed a moratorium on hanging whose Senators today want 'civilian ownership' of war against terrorism? This is also a fact that the government, which now wants the Zarb-e-Azb extended to cities and villages was reluctant to launch military operation in North Waziristan when terrorists played football with severed heads of our soldiers. And didn't we hear the wannabe prime minister's convoluted reasoning against military action in tribal areas as his party government lived their time on the container instead of showing up with those who elected them as their rulers. Yes, the Afghan refugees should be repatriated, the KP government should have its FC platoons back in its fold, and cross-border movement through Pak-Afghan border should be controlled. But all of it should have been said much before the blood-hounds attacked the Peshawar Army Public School. 

The bitter truth must be stated; that the country's political leadership across the board has not been able to stand up to the gravity of challenge of threat posed internally by extremists and externally by proxy terrorists. Had the successive heads of state and government desisted wearing their heart on their sleeves or had not chickened out under the threat of a backlash and followed the law by carrying out capital punishment when awarded by the courts we would not have come to such a sorry pass as now. We know the barbarians who carried out the attack on school; we also know from where they got the orders; and as to who got the SIMs the terrorists used and from where they got. We should move on now and bring the criminals to justice, even if it is to be a summary trial. If the world's oldest democracy, the United States, could for the Homeland Security Act to punish the makers of 9/11 why should it be an issue in Pakistan. We do share Chaudhry Nisar Ali's concerns about terrorist outfits being given extensive media coverage, and SIMs being sold without adequate verification. But isn't there enough of law on the statute book to seek help from to deal with these problems. The problem is not the paucity of relevant laws and policies, the problem is with their application. Isn't it disheartening to learn that three anti-terrorism courts of the nation's capital could not convict anybody in 62 cases they received in the last seven years. But don't blame the courts; it is for lack of co-operation among concerned agencies, police and prosecution who failed to follow-up with the cases with due diligence. Yes, we do need to rethink and review our past failures to avert their repetition. We do appreciate the political players' renewed determination to give the final fight to terrorists, but more than that we expect honest, earnest and hermetic application and enforcement of law, helped as it should be by a strong judiciary, committed law-enforcers and very effective prosecution. With a new Afghan government seemingly on the same page with Pakistan - indicated as it by its military action against militants in areas close to our border, which may have possibly taken out TTP chief Mullah Fazlullah - the prospects of Pakistan winning war on terrorism have considerably improved. Let the government and the people of Pakistan stay the course united as a single entity in action and thought.