Probably the best summary of the state of confusion that this incidence has caused in Pakistan polity. Needless to say that all Deobandi parties continue to show their pro-Taliban stance.
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If they come to kill me
S Iftikhar Murshed
Monday, October 22, 2012
From Print Edition
The writer is the publisher of Criterion quarterly.
Only children are blessed with the priceless gift of spontaneity. They have the ability to express their innermost thoughts, their fears and their hopes in simple words that stir the soul. A few weeks before Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), she said: I think about it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are doing is wrong... In no civilised society would any citizen, least of all a child, be perpetually haunted by such fears.
Malalas brave words, so replete with dreadful forebodings, were not encumbered by any ornamental turn of the phrase but were articulated with the precision of mathematics. The 14-year-old school girl from Swat refused to be intimidated by the death threats from the TTP for merely seeking her right to education. But despite this, the state failed in its obligation under the constitution to provide her protection and, as a consequence, she received a bullet in her skill. Malala miraculously survived the assassination attempt but it is uncertain what the future may hold for her as she lies barely conscious in a hospital bed in far away Birmingham. There has been public outrage but this has not translated into a nationwide surge in support for military action against the terrorist groups ensconced in North Waziristan, the only tribal agency where, till now, the Pakistan Army has not launched any operation. Every political leader in the country has condemned the hideous incident, but most of them have been noticeably diffident about castigating the TTP even though it has, with despicable nonchalance, claimed responsibility.
The self-righteous chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, could do no better than say that drone attacks were responsible for the TTPs attacks on civilians. These views were strikingly similar to those of Ataur Rehman, a member of the National Assembly, and the brother of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Without batting an eyelid, he proclaimed form the floor of the house that the real culprits for the assassination attempt on Malala were drone strikes, and, young people would be well-advised not to slavishly follow the dictates of the US-led west. Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jamaat-e-Islami chimed in with the absurd statement that excessive praise for the bravery of Malala had been the cause for the murderous attack on her person. His daughter, Dr Samia Raheel Qazi, obviously enamoured by the skewed religiosity of the TTP, referred to them as our brothers. A ludicrous narrative was concocted that Malala and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, were American agents, and, soon afterwards, pictures surfaced on the internet showing the child and her family with the late Richard Holbrooke, the former US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Two days after the treacherous assault on Malala, Imran Khan visited the hospital in Peshawar where she was first admitted, unconscious and gasping desperately for life through a ventilator. He made the usual sympathetic noises, but when questioned about his failure to condemn the TTP, he responded unconvincingly: We have local affiliates and supporters. Sure I can give big statements against the Taliban but that would make them (his supporters) Taliban targets. Spineless cowardice was thus on display and contrasted sharply with the courage of little Malala who scintillated with a gem-like flame when she boldly affirmed that she would not abandon her fight for the education of girls. Even if the TTP tried to kill her, she would look them in the eye and tell them what they are doing is wrong. Like Seneca, the Stoic philosopher of ancient Rome, she was convinced that all cruelty stems from weakness.
The hallmark of feeble minds is the inability to stand up to any form of criticism. In the past week there have been editorials and write-ups in several major newspapers deploring the hundreds of obnoxious emails and other forms of electronic messaging from the PTI roughnecks for criticising Imran Khan. Even more sinister was Maulana Fazlur Rehmans implied threat that statements lambasting clerics and the religious parties for their failure to denounce the TTP were being monitored. The next day reports emerged that the Taliban intended to target media houses in the major cities. It is difficult for the JUI chief to abstain from making absurdly inane pronouncements and this was evident in his keynote address at the Islam Zindabad Conference in Sukkur on October 14 when he said: If you want to safeguard your Malalas, and want them to return home safely from school, you have to reject the incumbent leadership and elect religious leadership. He then added that the attack on Malala was part of a diabolical plan to justify a military operation in North Waziristan in accordance with the wishes of the US. A variation of this theme was propounded by the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which disseminated a message to the media accusing US intelligence of masterminding the hideous assassination attempt on Malala.
These outlandish theories were inspired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who, on the spur of the moment, thoughtlessly announced that the government was contemplating army action in North Waziristan. He later denied that any such plan was in the offing, but then flew off at a tangent and, unbelievable though it seems, actually said that the TTP chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, had not been seen for approximately two months and 11 days. He should disclose whether he is injured or ill or has just escaped somewhere. The wry comment of a PML-N parliamentarian was that the interior minister had probably been infected by the water-borne brain-eating amoeba, Naeglaria Fowleri. Despite Rehman Maliks denial, the government tabled a resolution in the National Assembly proposing the launch of a military onslaught in North Waziristan. But this was shot out of the skies by the PML-Ns Chaudhry Nisar who said there were several unanimous resolutions that had not been implemented and therefore it was pointless adding to the pile of consensus documents on which no action would be taken.
Chaudhry Nisar, as the parliamentary leader of the opposition, has demonstrated, time and again, that he is incapable of clever, concentrated criticism of the government. He justified his rejection of the resolution on the thoroughly dishonest claim that the military operation in Swat had been an abject failure and, therefore, the mistake should not be replicated in North Waziristan. The only political party represented in parliament and the Sindh Assembly that was forthright about the need for militarily confronting the TTP in North Waziristan was the MQM. Its leader, Altaf Hussain, addressed a rally in Karachi last Sunday and urged the army to launch the offensive. He warned that even if after the despicable attack on Malala, military action was not taken, the nation may be left with no option but to seek international help. As he spoke, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was conveying an entirely different message at the Islam Zindabad meeting in Sukkur.
Yet another voice staunchly in favour of militarily crushing the TTP was that of the chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council, Haji Sahibzada Fazal Karim. He told journalists in Multan that the TTP only want to implement their ideology, which is terrorism. What transpires is that the government has failed miserably to galvanise countrywide support for conclusively defeating the TTP and its terrorist affiliates. In his address to the ECO Summit in Baku, President Zardari declaimed with insincerity: I want to speak to you today about the Daughter of Pakistan my daughter Malala Yousafzai. But she is only a stepdaughter whose simple desire for a proper education without fear will not be fulfilled so long as the country does not cure itself from what someone described as an intolerant and severe nationalism that conflates piety with patriotism.
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If they come to kill me - S Iftikhar Murshed
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