‘We stand on guard for thee’
Sir,
There is no doubt that there was an excessive use of force by Punjab police to counter the resistance to the removal of barriers erected outside the residence and office of Dr Tahirul Qadri in Lahore. But there is a history of private militant groups exploiting religion, sectarianism or ethnicity to create no-go areas in major urban centers of Pakistan. This has happened in Karachi, South Punjab, FATA, DI Khan, DG Khan, and Hyderabad. Today, we are paying the price for such transgressions.
A military operation has been initiated in North Waziristan to clear the area of terrorist strongholds and bases from where they launched their attacks. These terrorists started with setting up seminaries and recruiting poor, innocent children, who were brainwashed and trained in the use of weapons, and made to carry out major terrorist attacks to challenge and hurt the state.
Some of these terrorist groups are dominated by foreigners who were given sanctuary in our country, where they married local women and acquired our nationality. Now we have a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin who, under the banner of a religious organization, is very eager to take part in politics.
In my opinion, it is time politics in Pakistan be confined to those who are citizens of this country and have lived here and paid taxes for several years. And there should be no tolerance for armed private militias.
Aneela Chandio,
Sukkur.
Heads must roll
Sir,
I was shocked to see the way Punjab police handled the situation in Model Town at Minhajul Quran Academy of Dr Tahirul Qadri.
Firstly, there was no need to remove the road barriers erected around the academy for the protection of Dr Tahir Qadri by his workers. Secondly, the time selected to start the operation with bulldozers was also wrong. It was not enemy territory that the government wanted to achieve surprise. This only showed that the Punjab government was scared of the strength of Tahirul Qadri’s party.
The Minhajul Quran Academy could have been surrounded by the police to forestall any untoward incident on the arrival of Dr Tahir Qadri. In military terms it is called “laying a siege”. All incoming and outgoing traffic could be checked for any weapons or ammunition or undesirable people. The officer in charge of all such demolitions and the minister who ordered to carry out this operation at midnight should have expected this violent reaction by the workers of PAT. If the officer on the spot saw the reaction, he should not have ordered his troops to open fire on unarmed people. His unprofessional approach put the country into a great crisis.
The announcement by the chief minister of Rs 3 million in compensation to each affected family and constituting a commission to inquire in to the incident is not enough. Nothing will come out of the inquiry as our police is expert in cooking up stories. They will try to prove that they did it in self defense. Many such incidents have happened in the past but no government official or minister has ever resigned or been dismissed. Let this be an example where some heads should roll.
Col(r) Azhar Khwaja,
Lahore.
Arab fall
Sir,
As Iraq disintegrates into utter chaos, it is, like much of the “Muslim” world, now under the fresh onslaught of a modern day horde of Huns calling themselves the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, (ISIL). They are also known as ISIS (for Syria), another objective but the Levant historically is a much larger swath of territory that encompasses almost all of the Middle East and into old Palestine. It also contains much of the world’s oil and gas resources. ISIL’s brutality and vicious hatred for humanity in general is exceeded only by their implacable hate for fellow Muslims of the Shia persuasion. Thus Iraq, Syria, the Lebanon and Iran, with Bahrain and Qatar to follow, with their majority Shia populations, are the focused target of this horde of mercenaries financed by Wahabist, Salafist regimes. (This is well documented by Robert Fisk, Independent, 12/6) So sadistically vicious is this latter day plague that even Al Qaeda has tried to distance their atrocities from them.
As ISIL swept across towards Syrian boundaries I heard Donald Rumsfeld on CNN, (14/6). One of the prime architects of GW Bush the elder’s destruction of Iraq and the chaotic destruction wrought across the Middle East, he was now denouncing Maliki and the ragtag army of what was left of the nation he helped dismember. Even 20 years on he was clear that the fault for whatever is happening there is due to the inability of Iraq to be the strong democracy the US bombed it into and due to the support of “terrorist regimes” of Syria and Iran that are on the other side of the sectarian divide. In Europe, Tony Blair, who through now well documented falsehoods, made Britain the American ‘poodle’ in Iraq and Afghanistan also has resurfaced. As the other proponent of the dismemberment of most of the region he remains on the same page as Rumsfeld, still urging for the destruction of Syria.
The difference today between Al Qaeda and ISIL, and the reason for sudden Western alarm is that this new generation of utterly unscrupulous mercenaries is exactly that. Mercenaries have a tendency to eventually turn on their masters when they run out of better options or when they choose to. The conflagration has already threatened age old, and more recent colonially created, divisions with weakened tribal, ethnic and sectarian backgrounds. Another genocide is likely. The Western powers now have a Hobson’s choice: attack Syria and Iran, common enemies of Israel and the Jihadist funding nations or the uncontrollable ISIL whose potential caliphate is likely to be far worse than anything seen so far and may lead the entire world into Armageddon. Sadly, despite the disasters of the past 70 years the US has not learnt any lessons from history. And its diminishing poodles follow on faithfully.
The military action against terror in Pakistan is not a moment too soon. We have lost many good soldiers and Pakistan’s military has taken a big battering before the establishment has realized, hopefully, that the real enemy is not without but within and everywhere. And it was of our own creation now run amok. I trust the likelihood of the ISIL scourge ravaging Pakistan from the North East after complete US collapse in Afghanistan is not lost on our guardians.
The desperate need of a world is for peace and harmony. This can only come when foreign interference is stopped; people get the genuine right of self-determination; and the perpetrators of the chaos most of the world is in are caught, tried and un-selectively punished. The day the International Criminal Court, or equivalent, can do this and the day that Saudi Arabia and its acolyte states are democratized with the same fervour as other regional countries are there will be peace and sanity across the Middle East and the world. Maybe in our lifetime?
Dr Mervyn Hosein,
Karachi.
Propaganda tools
Sir,
Nobody perhaps has ever taken serious notice of the biggest media house of the country – the mosque and the loudspeaker. While speaking of containing TV channels and print papers that allegedly toe the line of the enemy, we conspicuously forget keeping a close watch and making strict legislation for the Imams of the mosques, who enjoy larger following than any TV channel. The success of operations, like the recently started Zarb-e-Azb, depends not only on the priceless sacrifices of our soldiers and officers fighting under Gen Raheel Sharif’s command and Nawaz Sharif’s go-ahead, but also on plugging all loopholes that allow anti-state propaganda.
For example, loudspeakers of mosques are free of a PEMRA, Auqaf or Information Ministry regulatory mechanism. Years have passed, yet we have not made any regular criteria of appointing Imams and Moazzins, who through their exploitative oratory tactics brainwash the followers in the name of religion and spread venom against our own people.
In last Friday’s sermon, I heard an Imam inciting the public against Operation Zarb-e-Azb, which has been no doubt started with full public and government support. The government must check such sensitive areas of the public sphere. Mosques and seminaries across Pakistan belonging to a particular school of thought seem to have an allegiance to and support for the Taliban. These are virtually the supply lines of terrorism that provide oxygen to extremism. The government must take the initiative as early as possible.
Alya Alvi,
Rawalpindi.
We must act
Sir,
The people displaced by the operation in North Waziristan are passing through one of the hardest phases of their lives. These people, many of whom are poor peasants or laborers, were until now living peacefully in their valleys and hills. But after the start of the military offensive last week, they have been forced to seek shelter in other parts of the country, especially the Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Many of them have walked long distances in a journey that lasted days. Along the way, many suffered because of the unavailability of food and even water. The death of a woman and two children due to the non availability of drinking water on the way shows the seriousness of the issue.
Therefore, I urge the government and all concerned citizens of this country to help these people, to avoid a large scale humanitarian crisis. The coming of the month of Ramzan in this hot weather is going to exacerbate the problem. The sooner we act, the better it will be for the people and our country.
Inayat Khan Wazir,
Lahore.
Primary lesson
Sir,
It was depressing to watch a roadside interview of a taxi driver on television, who expressed his disappointment at not being able to provide quality education to his son, saying his son too would end up being a taxi driver. I wish our elected leaders could understand the importance of education the way he does.
Education brings prosperity, progress and human rights. There is a need to declare an education emergency in the country followed by formulation of viable education reforms compatible to the needs and demands of the future, but also in line with the social and societal norms of the country.
Quality faculty needs to be hired and all due promotions should be given in accordance with the efforts put in by them. Students can perform different tasks for community’s welfare including monitoring of cleanliness, launching of development projects, taking care of security, and extending help to the community in case of an emergency.
Shafqat Sultan,
Lahore.
It’s time
Sir,
The operation to reestablish writ of the state in North Waziristan and the rest of country was a long overdue constitutional duty, not only of this government, but of every preceding government that has held power since private militias of various shades and varying agendas were formed in this country. The constitutional requirement for declaration of war is only needed when we are fighting with another nation, not for establishing the rule of law in the state’s own territory.
Pakistan’s constitutionally elected government in consultation with other political parties, parliament and armed forces tried in vain to arrive at a peaceful solution through negotiations. Cessation of violence was made a condition for negotiations to arrive at a settlement within the ambit of the constitution. Unfortunately, a series of attacks were launched by the Taliban, who ironically expected the government not to retaliate. This is an enemy that showed no remorse in slaughtering innocent men, women and children, damaging our essential defense installations, and attacking schools, colleges, health workers, spreading terror and insecurity among the people of Pakistan. In fact they rejoiced such attacks and had no hesitation in accepting responsibility.
No sovereign country in the world can allow private militias in its territory. Some of these groups were dominated by foreign nationals. This amounts to creating a state within a state. Extortion money was being collected, citizens kidnapped, banks robbed and the country inflicted with economic problems and loss of precious lives, far exceeding our losses in the wars with India.
It is time this country resolves to establish the supremacy of the constitution and eliminate all private militias formed by fundamentalist, religious or ethnic political parties or groups, if terrorism is to be eradicated and rule of law restored in letter and spirit. But it should be accompanied by guarantees of equal rights and privileges for all citizens, irrespective of caste, creed, gender, faith, ethnicity or color.
Tariq Ali,
Lahore.