Fixing the fundamentals
By Shamshad Ahmad July 11, 2008 Those who kill innocent people are doomed to eternal punishment (25:68-69); “whosoever slays an innocent person…it is as if he had slain humanity altogether."(5:32) Holy Quran.
The world watches us with anxiety and concern living as we are with almost daily suicidal attacks killing innocent people. All those killed in these ghastly attacks, civilian or security and police personnel are Pakistanis. No wonder, we are today the most “violent” and most “dangerous” nation on earth. We should be ashamed of this new notoriety of our society.
Pakistan has become the “ground zero” of the War On Terror with a full-fledged military conflict going on in its tribal areas suspected of being a “terrorist sanctuary.” There has been a huge collateral damage in this on-going operation. The biggest casualty, however, is Pakistan’s own credibility. It has staked everything in this proxy war, and has killed hundreds of its own people, yet it is being blamed for “not doing enough.”
There seems to be no end to this “tragedy of errors” and incessant blame-game. Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai is playing the comic “farceur” to divert attention from his own statecraft deficiencies and to use Pakistan as a scapegoat for all his failures and limitations. India has joined him in accusing Pakistan for the latest suicide bombing outside the Indian embassy in Kabul killing more than 40 persons.
Pakistan is an easy scapegoat these days. But the question as to who did it remains valid even for hundreds of suicide bombings within Pakistan killing by now more than a thousand innocent people, including Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The world has been watching us with anxiety and concern as we continue to play the “mercenary” role and receiving billions of dollars without any sign of their utilisation for the wellbeing of the people.
Our involvement in this campaign against terrorism complicates our tasks, both at home and at regional and global levels. Our sovereignty is being violated with impunity. Our freedom of action in our own interest is being questioned and undermined. We are accepting the responsibility for crimes we have not committed. But this is only one side of the problem.
What is most worrisome at this juncture is that Pakistan is going through one of the most serious crises of its history. It is being weakened methodically by keeping it engaged on multiple external as well as domestic fronts. It is the only Muslim country with an on-going military operation against its own people in the name of the War On Terror.
