Preventing A Taliban Victory In Pakistan

Here is an inside scoop from a dear friend in Pakistan. He is a former Professor of Standford and is one of the most kind hearted conscientious humans I have ever meet. In several ways he has a Ghandi-like nature. At any rate, he is very bold. He has been in the heart of danger for quite some time, but speaks freely for justice and freedom. He is one of the Great voices of Pakistan and so I am obligated to publish his words here and elsewhere. Enjoy.

Now that the army has turned serious, Baitullah Mehsud cannot expect to
stroll down Constitution Avenue any time soon, nor hope to sit in the
presidency. A few thousand mountain barbarians, even if trained by Al
Qaeda’s best, cannot possibly seize power from a modern, well-armed state
with 600,000 soldiers. The spectre of Pakistan collapsing in six months -
a fear expressed by a senior US military adviser in March – has
evaporated.

But there is little cause for elation. Daily terror attacks across the
country give abundant proof that religious extremism has streamed down the
mountains into the plains. Through abductions, beheadings and suicide
bombings, Taliban insurgents are destabilising Pakistan, damaging its
economy and spreading despondency.

Look at Islamabad, a city of fear. Machine-gun bunkers are ubiquitous
while traffic barely trickles past concrete blocks placed across its
super-wide roads. Upscale restaurants, fearing suicide bombers, have
removed their signs although they still hope clients will remember. Who
will be the next target? Girls’ schools, internet cafes, bookshops, or
western clothing stores with mannequins? Or perhaps shops selling toilet
paper, underwear, and other un-Islamic goods?

The impact on Pakistan’s women is enormous. Throwing acid, or threatening
to do so, has been spectacularly successful in making women embrace
modesty. Today there is scarcely a female face visible anywhere in the
Frontier province. Men are also changing dress – anxious private
employers, government departments and NGOs have advised their male
employees in Peshawar and other cities to wear shalwar-kameez rather than
trousers. Video shops are being bombed out of business, and many barbers
have put “no-shave” notices outside their shops.

If public support were absent, extremist violence could be relatively easy
to deal with. But extremism does not lie merely at the fringes. As an
example, let us recall that 5,000 people crammed the streets outside Lal
Masjid to pray behind the battle-hardened pro-Taliban militant leader,
Maulana Abdul Aziz, the day after he was released from prison on the
orders of interior minister Rehman Malik.

In the political arena, the extremists have high-profile cheerleaders like
Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Hamid Gul who rush to justify every
attack on Pakistan’s people and culture. To them it makes no difference
that Baitullah Mehsud proudly admits to the murder of Allama Dr Sarfaraz
Ahmad Naeemi, the recent Peshawar mosque bombing, the earlier Wah
slaughter and scores of other hideous suicide attacks. Like broken
gramophone records, they chant “Amrika, Amrika, Amrika” after every new
Taliban atrocity.

Nevertheless, bad as things are, there is a respite. To the relief of
those who wish to see Pakistan survive, the army finally moved against the
Taliban menace. But, while the state has committed men to battle, it
cannot provide them a convincing reason why they must fight.

For now some soldiers have bought into the amazing invention that the
Baitullahs and Fazlullahs are India’s secret agents. Others have been told
that they are actually fighting a nefarious American-Jewish plot to
destabilise Pakistan. They now believe that Pakistan’s mullahs are
actually being paid by RAW, Mossad, and the CIA. To inspire revenge, still
others are being shown the revolting Taliban-produced videos of Pakistani
soldiers being tortured and beheaded.

That the enemy lacks an accurate name typifies the confusion and
contradiction within. In official parlance they are called “militants” or
“extremists” but never religious extremists. It is astonishing that the
semi-literate Fazlullah, on whose head the government has now placed a
price, is reverentially referred to as “maulana”. On the other hand there
is no hesitation in describing Baloch fighters – who fight for a
nationalist cause rather than a religious one – as rebels or terrorists.

A muddled nation can still fight, but not very well and not for too long.
Self-deception enormously increases vulnerability. Yet, Pakistan’s current
army and political leaders cannot alone be blamed for the confusion;
history’s baggage is difficult to dispense with.

To say what really lies at the heart of Pakistan’s problems will require
summoning more courage than presently exists. The unmentionable truth -
one etched in stone – is that when a state proclaims to have a religious
mission, it inevitably privileges those who organise religious life and
interpret religious text. It then becomes difficult – perhaps impossible -
to challenge those who claim to fight for religious causes. After all,
what’s wrong with the Taliban mission to bring the Sharia to Pakistan?

If there was one solid unchallengeable version of the faith, then at least
there would be a clear answer to this question. But conflict becomes
inevitable once different models and interpretations start competing.
Whose version of the Sharia should prevail? Whose jihad is the correct
one? Who shall decide? Lacking a central authority – such as a pope or
caliph – every individual or group can claim to be in possession of the
divine truth. The murder of Dr Naeemi by the Taliban comes from this
elementary fact.

For now the Baitullahs, Fazlullahs, Mangal Baghs, and their ilk are on the
run. Yet, they could still win some day. Even if killed, others would
replace them. So, while currently necessary, military action alone can
never be sufficient. Nor will peace come from merely building more roads,
schools and hospitals or inventing a new justice system.

Ultimately it is the power of ideas that shall decide between victory and
defeat. It is here that Pakistan is weakest and most vulnerable. A gaping
philosophical and ideological void has left the door open to demagogues
who exploit resource scarcity and bad governance. They use every failing
of the state to create an insurrectionary mood and churn out suicide
bombers. Only a few Islamic scholars, like Dr Naeemi, have ventured to
challenge them.

The long-term defence of Pakistan therefore demands a determined
ideological offensive and a decisive break with the past. Nations win wars
only if there is a clear rallying slogan and a shared goal.

For this, Pakistan must reinvent itself as a state that is seen to care
for its people. Instead of seeking to fix the world’s problems – Kashmir,
Afghanistan and Palestine included – it must work to first fix its own.

A nation’s best defence is a loyal citizenry. This can be created only by
offering equal rights and opportunities to all regardless of province,
language and, most importantly, religion and religious sect. Navigating
the way to heaven must be solely an individual’s concern, not that of the
state.

[The author teaches at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.]

see www.insightbeyondsight.com for viable alternative to intergroup conflict.