It
Is Our War
By Pervez Hoodbhoy
23 October, 2007
The Dawn
The war in Pakistan's tribal
areas is being fought by Pakistan's army under America's gun and on
its orders. Many innocents have tragically died from bombardment from
the skies. Therefore, not surprisingly, Pakistanis are angry and most
feel it is not their war.
But Pakistan, for its own
sake, urgently needs to battle the flames of religious fanaticism lest
they consume the rest of the country. This must, however, be done in
a manner that is intelligent and principled.
Few Pakistanis have spoken
out against the rising tide of fanatical militancy. Even the horrific
mass murder of joyous citizens by two suicide bombers during Benazir
Bhutto's triumphal return has not led to a full-throated condemnation
of extremism.
Normally vocal, urban, educated
Pakistanis - whose values and lifestyles make them eligible for slaughter
by Taliban standards - are remarkably silent. Do we believe it cannot
really happen to us? Are we unwilling to speak because the threat has
cloaked itself in the name of religion? Or, are we blinded to the danger
by the conviction that the war against the jihadis is America's war?
No one can doubt that there
is a creeping Talibanisation of Pakistan's society and economy. The
signs are everywhere. The Taliban have taken control in many tribal
areas, forcing local government officials to flee. As happened in Afghanistan,
the Taliban are now the law. A widely available Taliban-made video shows
the bodies of common criminals and bandits dangling from electricity
poles in the town of Miramshah, the administrative headquarters of North
Waziristan. Girls' schools have been closed. Barbers have been told:
shave and die. Traditional folk musicians have fled. Polio vaccinations
have been declared haram. Unvaccinated children are under threat from
polio and other diseases because doctors and health workers are being
killed.
Taliban vice-and-virtue squads
enforce the Sharia, checking, among other things, the length of beards,
whether shalwars are worn at an appropriate height above the ankles,
and the attendance of individuals in the mosques. Even our history is
being attacked, as fanatics trying to emulate their Afghan Taliban brothers
attempted to destroy the 2,000-year-old statue of the Buddha in Swat,
surely one of the greatest historical monuments in our country. Not
surprisingly, tourism in Swat and the Northern Areas has come to a dead
halt.
Much of the responsibility
lies with the government, which is seen as insincere. Everyone knows
that military generals, politicians and incendiary mullahs have been
symbiotically linked to Pakistan's politics for decades. Jihadist groups,
aimed against India, have long operated with the state's knowledge and
support. These alliances have helped various power groups attain their
respective goals.
Nations win wars only when
there is a clear rallying cause. While the army high command has committed
men to battle, and lost well over a thousand of them, they have not
told the nation what these men are fighting for. Nor has the enemy yet
been given a name - they are merely termed 'miscreants'. There is also
well-founded suspicion of government motives. Since the Taliban were
Pakistan's creation, and firmly supported by its intelligence agencies,
Pakistanis know that the U-turn would not have happened but for America.
The state is also seen as
inept. As in the Lal Masjid episode, the government initially refused
to identify the enemy. It finally had to do so when the militants went
on the rampage. But, instead of acting decisively, the government sought
appeasement - a move that made it look weak. When appeasement failed
- as it certainly had to - there was a massive use of force leaving
large numbers of innocents dead. A situation that could have been dealt
with by using minimal force was allowed to fester until it eventually
exploded.
The Taliban have won victory
after victory because the army leadership has not reacted as it should
have. In another country, the beheadings and mutilation of soldiers'
bodies would have led to an uproar which that government could have
used to drum up support for its subsequent actions. Recall that in 2006,
the capture of just two Israeli soldiers by the Hezbollah had been the
casus belli for the invasion of Lebanon.
But the capture of nearly
300 Pakistani soldiers led only to public scorn, not sympathy. Initially,
an attempt was made to deny that any soldiers had been kidnapped or
had surrendered. This soon had to be abandoned. Then, several weeks
later, after the BBC interviewed the military officers in the Taliban's
captivity, General Musharraf criticised the officers for having surrendered
and said that they had behaved unprofessionally.The Taliban have executed
three of the soldiers, released a few, and kept most of the rest. The
captors say that the army is not interested in having the remaining
men back because they are poor people, not from the officer class. This
propaganda resonates powerfully with the ordinary soldier.
The demoralisation in the
ranks can only be imagined. A once-proud army stands isolated in the
war. It is rightly blamed for the collateral deaths of non-combatants,
but it is receiving none of the support it deserves from the public
for stemming the tide of primitive religious extremism.
The government is not to
be blamed alone. The private media, including the so-called 'free' private
television channels known for their so-called openness, studiously avoid
meaningful discussions on religious extremism. Although there are endless
discussions on the wheeling and dealing of succession politics, the
enormous damage to the country's social and economic fabric receives
scant attention.
This does not mean that the
Pakistani public has succumbed to extremism. An overwhelming majority
of Pakistan's citizens do not want harsh strictures imposed on their
personal liberties. They do not want enslavement of their women, their
forced confinement in the burqa, or for them to be denied the right
to education. Instead, they want a decent life for themselves and their
children. They disapprove of Islam being used as a cover for tribal
primitivism. But there is little protest.
We must understand this.
Why is there no mass movement to confront the extremist Taliban of Miramhah
and Waziristan, or the violence-preaching extremist mullah in Mingora,
Lahore or Islamabad? This is because ordinary people lack the means
and institutions to understand, organise, and express their values and
aspirations. We do not yet have the democratic institutions that can
give politics meaning for ordinary people. Depoliticising the country
over the decades has led to paying this heavy price.
To fight and win the war
against the Taliban, Pakistan will need to mobilise both its people
and the state. The notion of a power-sharing agreement is a non-starter;
the spectacular failures of earlier agreements should be a lesson. Instead,
the government should help create public consensus through open forum
discussions, proceed faster on infrastructure development in the tribal
areas, and make judicious use of military force. This is every Pakistani's
war, not just the army's, and it will have to be fought even if America
packs up and goes away.
It may yet be possible to
roll back the Islamist laws and institutions that have corroded our
society for over 30 years and to defeat our self-proclaimed holy warriors.
But this can only happen if our leaders win the trust of the citizens.
To do this, political parties, government officials, and yes, even the
generals, will have to embrace democracy, in word and deed. This will
ultimately determine whether we become a respectable member of the comity
of states, or a pariah extremist state that breeds export-quality terrorism.
The writer teaches at Quaid-i-Azam
University, Islamabad.
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