Since time unknown we are telling our people through schoolbooks, newspapers, Friday sermons, Jihadi rallies, dramas, songs and movies that India is our worst enemy.
Worse yet are others like the Jews, the Zionists and the Christians. Perhaps, the time is come to tell them that the worst enemy of Islam and humanity are the Taliban and the aforementioned have contributed remarkably in science, technology and philanthropy to ease the miseries of the wretched souls on earth. If we did not, the inhuman vandals like the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will continue to massacre our children in school and their spiritual parents like General (retd) Asad Durrani will keep on defending their barbarism with the doctrine of 'collateral damage.’
TTP justified the 30 November Quetta suicide attack, that killed four and injured 30 people, as revenge against the killing of Omar Khalid Khorasani. Its insatiable thirst for revenge made it gun down a police constable in Charsadda on 1 December. He was returning home from duty. Two days later, it killed three policemen in Nowshehra, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The innocent children of Army Public School (APS) Peshawar were certainly not the ‘founders’ of absurd doctrines like “strategic depth,” “bleed India” or “the good and bad Taliban.” They were not the architects of the foreign, defence and security policies. They had not ousted civilian governments to create the Taliban Frankenstein. They did not decide to become a partner in the US-led global war on terror.
Omar Khalid Khorasani was killed in Paktika, Afghanistan on 7 August. Since then, TTP has killed 63 people, civilians mostly, in different parts of Pakistan. If the TTP is the sole custodian of Islam, can it explain under which verse of Quran or which teaching of the Prophet (PBUH) did it kill these innocent people to revenge a single person’s killing? If ‘an eye for an eye’ is applied, why did the TTP kill dozens of innocent people against one Khorasani? How can a passer-by in Karachi can be declared one of the murderers of Khorasani? Is every single creature, living or dead, is behind Khorasani’s killing?
It is the time to make the best use of clerics, pulpits and loudspeakers: not every Friday but five times a day - at every congregational prayer, to proclaim to all of Creation that the TTP and others of its ilk are the worst enemy of every human being and living thing on earth. It is, in fact, a powerful devilish force.
The same message should be included in our textbooks, public offices’ oaths and the affidavits that we sign to seek ID cards, passports, marriage certificates, etc. Songs, dramas, plays, movies, etc., should be produced based on this proclamation. Those who don’t denounce the TTP should be made aware of how treasonous this position is. National songs should be recorded on this theme. This is the way to defeat TTP. You can’t defeat it militarily. You can’t defeat it through jirgas.
Yesterday, Army Chief General Asim Munir was at the LoC. He responded to the 27 October statement of the Indian defence minister in which he hoped to have Gilgit-Baltistan as part of India. The Chief would have done well to treat the Indian statement as foolish and undeserving of a response.
Since 27 October, India has not killed a single Pakistani in Karachi, Quetta, Lahore, Swat, Peshawar or any tribal areas. Yet TTP has done so! Not one, but dozens. Who, then, is the enemy? India or the TTP?
The new military leadership should think laterally. They might, like this writer of average prudence, be able to understand that in the presence of TTP and elements like Imran Khan, this country needs no external enemy. And in the presence of someone like Narendra Modi, we don’t need any firearm to destroy India – if that is the purpose.
The war on terror has cost us around 90,000 lives. The wars of 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 combined cost a small fraction of this death toll.
Worse yet are others like the Jews, the Zionists and the Christians. Perhaps, the time is come to tell them that the worst enemy of Islam and humanity are the Taliban and the aforementioned have contributed remarkably in science, technology and philanthropy to ease the miseries of the wretched souls on earth. If we did not, the inhuman vandals like the Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) will continue to massacre our children in school and their spiritual parents like General (retd) Asad Durrani will keep on defending their barbarism with the doctrine of 'collateral damage.’
TTP justified the 30 November Quetta suicide attack, that killed four and injured 30 people, as revenge against the killing of Omar Khalid Khorasani. Its insatiable thirst for revenge made it gun down a police constable in Charsadda on 1 December. He was returning home from duty. Two days later, it killed three policemen in Nowshehra, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
The innocent children of Army Public School (APS) Peshawar were certainly not the ‘founders’ of absurd doctrines like “strategic depth,” “bleed India” or “the good and bad Taliban.” They were not the architects of the foreign, defence and security policies. They had not ousted civilian governments to create the Taliban Frankenstein. They did not decide to become a partner in the US-led global war on terror.
Omar Khalid Khorasani was killed in Paktika, Afghanistan on 7 August. Since then, TTP has killed 63 people, civilians mostly, in different parts of Pakistan. If the TTP is the sole custodian of Islam, can it explain under which verse of Quran or which teaching of the Prophet (PBUH) did it kill these innocent people to revenge a single person’s killing? If ‘an eye for an eye’ is applied, why did the TTP kill dozens of innocent people against one Khorasani? How can a passer-by in Karachi can be declared one of the murderers of Khorasani? Is every single creature, living or dead, is behind Khorasani’s killing?
It is the time to make the best use of clerics, pulpits and loudspeakers: not every Friday but five times a day - at every congregational prayer, to proclaim to all of Creation that the TTP and others of its ilk are the worst enemy of every human being and living thing on earth. It is, in fact, a powerful devilish force.
The same message should be included in our textbooks, public offices’ oaths and the affidavits that we sign to seek ID cards, passports, marriage certificates, etc. Songs, dramas, plays, movies, etc., should be produced based on this proclamation. Those who don’t denounce the TTP should be made aware of how treasonous this position is. National songs should be recorded on this theme. This is the way to defeat TTP. You can’t defeat it militarily. You can’t defeat it through jirgas.
Yesterday, Army Chief General Asim Munir was at the LoC. He responded to the 27 October statement of the Indian defence minister in which he hoped to have Gilgit-Baltistan as part of India. The Chief would have done well to treat the Indian statement as foolish and undeserving of a response.
Since 27 October, India has not killed a single Pakistani in Karachi, Quetta, Lahore, Swat, Peshawar or any tribal areas. Yet TTP has done so! Not one, but dozens. Who, then, is the enemy? India or the TTP?
The new military leadership should think laterally. They might, like this writer of average prudence, be able to understand that in the presence of TTP and elements like Imran Khan, this country needs no external enemy. And in the presence of someone like Narendra Modi, we don’t need any firearm to destroy India – if that is the purpose.
The war on terror has cost us around 90,000 lives. The wars of 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 combined cost a small fraction of this death toll.