Pakistan: No respite from fear

The militants’ real strength does not lie in their arms or their suicide bombers, it lies in the pockets of support for them in Pakistani society. Over the recent years the Pakistani people’s tendency to follow anyone who unfurls the banner of religion, be he a soldier of fortune or a political opportunist, has increased instead of getting weaker.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Articles
Source & Credit:  Dawn | Pakistan
By I.H. Rehman | March 18, 2010

Apart from the loss of a large number of precious lives, this month’s terrorist attacks have deepened the people’s sense of insecurity and despair mainly because they cannot see when and how the wave of terrorism will end.

One of the causes of the people’s anxiety is the realisation that the militants are usually one step ahead of the security agencies. The latter seem to rely on their ability to intercept calls and conversations on cellular phones on the basis of which they issue warnings of militants’ entry into cities/towns.


When an attack on the target settlement does take place the warning can be recalled as proof of the security high command’s efficiency. Success in tracking the militants’ movements within the target area has been rare. The citizens’ anxieties cannot be assuaged until the security forces can convince them of their capacity to anticipate the militants’ choice of target and the timing of their action, both of which are at the moment highly improbable.

At the same time, the terrorists have maintained a high rate of success in moving quite close to their targets. In some incidents they have been able to break through the first barrier outside the target (as in the attack on GHQ in Rawalpindi). In a majority of cases, however, the terrorists have been challenged at the entrance to the target premises and have detonated explosives wherever they are checked. The destruction caused in such incidents too has been heavy. The citizens therefore apprehend an unbearable loss of life and property even if the terrorists can be prevented from getting close to their living quarters/offices/places of business. In such situations no relief from fear is possible.

Further, the terrorists’ attacks are not limited to army/police establishments, though there is no doubt about their being the principal target. The other targets include markets and various places of congregation. Some acts of terrorism fall in the category of sectarian killing. These include the targeting of religious scholars and teachers the terrorists consider guilty of heresy or being critical of terrorist methods.

Thus, a large number of people are afraid of going to mosques, markets, railway stations, bus stands, schools and places of entertainment. True, many of these places continue to attract a large number of people but most of them are under heavy strain and pay a high price for it in the form of psychological disturbance. Besides, there is always a danger that an inexperienced terrorist may detonate the explosives before reaching his destination due to some accident or loss of nerve. That means the poor citizen is at risk everywhere.

A significant cause of public anxiety is the lack of clarity about the objectives of both the militants and the military operation against them.

Quite a few motives have been attributed to the terrorists. According to one theory they support the Taliban resistance to the American/Nato forces in Afghanistan, and Pakistan is attacked in a bid to prevent it from supporting these operations. Another theory says the militants are fighting to establish the rule of the Islamic Sharia. Some of the militant groups are modest in their religious zeal as they want Sharia rule only in their territory, while the more ambitious ones among them wish to impose their will on the whole globe, beginning with Pakistan. Some quarters suggest that the tribal militants are angry at the violation of their political and cultural autonomy and are seeking revenge for the killing of their chieftains.

These theories may not truly reflect the mindset of the militants, and one suspects that some contribution to their currency has been made by elements in Pakistani society who hope to benefit from militancy.

These elements have never contested the terrorists’ objectives. Mr Shahbaz Sharif may not have meant what he was quoted as saying but it is impossible to deny the existence of groups and individuals who are soft on terrorists because of an imagined sharing of anti-American sentiment. The neo-converts to anti-Americanism, led by the Jamaat-i-Islami, are prominent among the defenders of militancy. Maulana Fazlur Rahman also has never concealed where his sympathies lie. Now he blames the government, in which he has a share, of fighting the Taliban instead of talking to them.

The militants’ real strength does not lie in their arms or their suicide bombers, it lies in the pockets of support for them in Pakistani society. Over the recent years the Pakistani people’s tendency to follow anyone who unfurls the banner of religion, be he a soldier of fortune or a political opportunist, has increased instead of getting weaker. The result is that while most people condemn the loss of life in terrorist attacks they do not display the urge to join the struggle against the culprits. They do not move against a militant when he comes to their town and stays in a madressah or a rented house, even when his identity cannot be concealed.

The common citizens have not been helped by the planners of the military operations either. They cannot possibly delink the operation in Fata from the conflict in Afghanistan. In plain words Pakistan will remain vulnerable to militancy so long as the conflict in Afghanistan continues. That stretches Pakistan’s ordeal indefinitely. The claim that peace and tranquillity will return to the embattled tribal areas once the terrorists’ chain of command is broken is sounding more and more hollow with the passage of time. Many people agree that the tribal uprising is essentially a political issue that cannot be solved through military means alone but it is difficult to see that a stage has arrived when gunmen should withdraw in favour of peaceful intermediaries.

Above all, the campaign against terrorism is not backed by the kind of national unity the task demands. The decline in people’s faith in the government’s ability to perform its functions also undermines their confidence in its anti-terrorist measures. The opposition parties are quite keen to exploit terrorist attacks to harass the government instead of supporting it in the common interest. Little effort is being made to anticipate the upheavals in the region the present drift is leading to.

The most distressing part of the people’s predicament today is the unmentionable fear of being found wanting in preserving whatever intellectual and social gains they have achieved over many centuries.

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