If there is anything more chilling than a teenage girl being shot in the head for merely demanding that she and other girls should be allowed to attend school, it is the twisted mindset that has buried the targeted attack on Malala Yousafzai in conspiracy theories. The initial outrage across Pakistan at the targeted shooting of the 14-year-old by the Taliban has degenerated into a slanging contest between ‘us’ and ‘them’. The ‘us’ are those who, at their generous best, see her shooting as ‘collateral damage’ — an inevitable by-product of drone attacks and Pakistan’s partnership in the U.S.-led war on terror. At their cynical worst, they see it as a western conspiracy to pressure Pakistan into conducting a military operation in North Waziristan. Some even claim the shooting was staged, and portray Malala and her father as western agents. On the other side are ‘them’, Pakistanis filled with revulsion that some of their fellow countrymen could target a child. But their hope that this would be a turning point has been belied; the ‘us’ are walking away with the narrative. The past few days have seen the reactivation of propagandists of the Pakistani establishment. Ironically, they did so at a time the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which claimed the shooting, began to feel the heat of public anger against it.
Once again, an opportunity to mould opinion against terrorism in Pakistan has come and gone. Clearly, it is not easy to abandon a studiously created narrative of a citadel of Islam that is built on the denial of geographical and historical moorings and an over-eagerness to align itself with the culturally alien Arab world. The Pakistan military has tried to sound committed to fighting terrorism, but it will take more than a few speeches by the Chief of Army Staff. Indeed, no one is convinced that the security establishment has turned its back on its strategic assets. Conveniently, the Army has declared it is for the political leadership to decide on a North Waziristan operation, knowing full well the limitations of these leaders, that too, in the months before a general election. There is no gainsaying that the civilian leadership should be more assertive, but it is also no secret that the current dispensation exchanged its right to frame security policy with the military for its survival. A year ago, an all-party meeting offered an olive branch to the Taliban as part of a ‘give-peace-a-chance’ strategy but in vain. The number of terror strikes has dropped but the clock continues to tick in the form of the quiet but steadily creeping radicalisation of society that provides terrorism its ideological space. It will take more than an operation in remote North Waziristan to deal with that.
Keywords: Malala Yousafzai, Swat Valley, Taliban, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
I totally agree with this article. When I read the news in Pakistani
media, I get filled with more revulsion at the so called apologists than
the Taliban. They are bickering about and writing pseudo intellectual
articles in their media about 'West hijacking Malala issue', 'How Drones
are pushing Taliban to kill little girls' etc. How sad!
The great hope I had that normal people in Pakistan would step up to
condemn this has met it's wall. I never before hated Pakistan for their
grand paranoia than I hate now. It's such a shame!
It is very sad that every second incident is related to Terrorism,
this issues is not actually not of terrorism. However the output seems
to be. There are many things one has to bear in, before actually
building up comments.
A very learned scholar of India writes a very balanced view on this
burning topic. Check out his blog by his name "blog for Sajjad Nomani"
(sajjadnomani.wordpress.com)
Hope it would try to present the case to its reality rather than just
frustrated and ignorant comments.
It must be relevant here to note that the extremists in Pakistan are
responsible to a great extent for weakening economy of the country.
Life is very uncertain in Pakistan and any moment any destructive
activities can occur taking a heavy toll of lives. The Defence
expenditures are augmented every year and the cross border skirmishes
cause a deterioration in the relations with the neighbourly states.
These are a burden on the exchequer. The rise of the extremists has
jeopardized the progress and economic stability in India also. The
blasts of Mumbai are still a nightmarish experience for the Indians.
People like Kasavs are everyday entering Indian borders and Pakistan
is enjoying it in Kashmir.Life is becoming very unsafe. In the name of
Jihad they take recourse to all sorts of barbarism and heinous
killings.The gunning of a teenage social activists shows that the
Talibans are against humanity and education.The charge of
Westernisation cannot be accepted because it is a lame excuse
It is heartening to note that Interior Minister of Pakistan announced
Sitara-e- Shujaat for the brave teen Malala Yousafzai who became a
target of the barbaric attack of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan . She
protested against Taliban’s tyrannical stance on education of
women. It is a good news that Pakistan has at last gathered some
courage to confer the civil award for bravery on the child activist
for publicly speaking out against the Talibans. You have rightly said
that this is not enough. Pakistan could use the opportunity to
organize people against terrorism. Instead we have seen that the whole
episode is shamelessly personalized as if honourin Malala is the only
aim of the government. The Talibans have a pervading influence on the
Pakistani extremists. There is no sign of the Taliban laying down
their arms. We can offer forgiveness. It is indeed a good gesture
that Malik announced Pride of Performance awards for a doctor , a
nurse and two other technicians who saved Malala
Its awful how bad deed's are masked for personal motives and re-framed
and presented for atrocious purposes to dodge the logical thinking of
common mass. The killing of an innocent girl for wanting to go to school
and later blaming her for conspiracy to clean of the act is a cheap
gimmick. The Pakistani atmosphere is becoming suffocating where any one
could get liked for self-perceived right's and wrong's. Now the terrorism has taken altogether a different toll where even innocent
children won't be spared. Its a shame!
I cannot believe the naivety of this editorial piece. Pakistan has been known to manipulate each & every thing (institution, decorum, forum, people, principles, values) to realize its aim of besting India. Please recall the words of Z.A Bhutto, that his country would eat grass to achieve nuclear bomb. To internalize the defeat in 1971 at hands of India, Mr. Bhutto kick started the radicalization of Pak. What Pak is seeing is the fruits of the seed it has sown 40 years back. The ISI and military has been projected as the only institution(s) that can keep Pak united. The Pak Army having taken beating in recent past from its disciples...has created diversions & events at appropriate time to keeps its people focused on non-essential things.
The episode of the shooting of 14 year girl is one such diversion. It has erased many uncomfortable things from Pakistan headlines like the spat between increasingly assertive US, the missing persons from Baluchistan, ...contd
The second para of the Editorial is brilliant. The aping of the alien Arab-Muslim culture by certain desperate sections of South-Asian Muslims is absurd and amusing -- you cannot forget your roots of Sufism in the South Asian soil.
There may not, as the Opinion says, be "anything more chilling
than a teenage girl being shot in the head for merely demanding
that she and other girls should be allowed to attend school." But
there are plenty of things that are surely as chilling, in India.
One has only to recall the practice of female foeticide,
particularly the fact that it is maximally strong in Haryana and
Punjab, two states that are near the top of the list, as far as
GDP per capita is concerned. Is it better to kill a female foetus
in the womb, not because the mother's ill health requires that it
be done, but because a girl child, unlike a boy child, can only
be a future liability than it was for the Tehreek - e -Taliban to
have killed Malala? And is it better that doctors, by the
hundreds (thousands?), who have sworn to save lives, agrees to do
so, in order to make some more money?
It is unlikely that Pakistan will cut its ties with the terrorists that it sees as a strategic asset,
In Pakistan, people are not allowed to make up their own minds. The pressure is so great to either believe in a US conspiracy or stay ambivalent because of a fear for one's life! It is so tragic that a shooting of a 14 year old girl has been mired in so much nonsense and both the military and the Government are playing footsie! Truly sad that Wahabi School has taken such a hold on Pakistan that the Taliban seem convinced that God supports shooting Malala because she dares to go to School
Please Email the Editor