In recent days I have been witness to a lot of hand wrangling in Karachi wherever I go whenever the current hottest topic of conversation the “Mumbai attack” comes up. Granted as citizens of this world it is our duty to stand with the Mumbaikars and the rest of India against these ghastly murderers, but assuming that they were from Pakistan and that we as citizens of Pakistan are somehow responsible goes towards the defeatist mentality so many of us have adopted.
Whenever something bad happens in the world these days the finger is pointed towards our tribal areas with all of us stealing sideways glances at each other and refusing to comment. choosing to stayt silent in a national form of guilt like the child who goes wee in his new trousers and cannot bear to look the parent in the eye.
I say it is time to put a stop to this defeatist mentality, to this unholy assumption that all that is wrong in the world today is somehow our responsibility & fault. First of all more than 70% of these “militants” are foreigners themselves in our own lands. Yes they are not Pakistanis just because they queued up outside the Nadra office and got their Id cards like the rest of us, they are Afghans, Chechens, Arabs, Uzbeks and every other kind of freedom fighter and gun for hire out there fighting to make quick buck or just because they believe whatever B.S they are fed with in their indoctrination.
Secondly the State of Pakistan and the government of Pakistan, all of them whether civilian or military have paid the highest price possible since 9/11 to eradicate the terrorist threat. Heck show me a country who’s forces are brave enough to fight for one damn week with these madmen in the jungles and mountains of our tribal areas? In fact show me a nation who has committed more and done more for this effort than Pakistan? Even the U.S has utterly failed in defeating these people. Even now 20 out of 32 Afghan provinces are under Taliban control. In fact except for us who have handed over, captured and killed hundreds of these militants the war on terror has been a global ineptitude and failure of the highest order. Those that disagree can look at the damn statistics themselves!
Thirdly these militants whether we or the Indians or anyone else like to admit it or not are not motivated by any religion. They do not give a rats ass whether its Muslims they are mowing down or Hindus or any other religious breed. They have only one purpose, to disrupt our lives and kill to achieve that target because frankly they cannot see the world as a happy place.
Last but not the least, do not bow your heads and whisper when media from any part of the subcontinent or elsewhere accuses our religion and our country. Stand up for yourselves, if the Indians think they can threaten us with attacks on our soil, we ain’t exactly sitting here wearing bangles either. Even though I believe war is utter foolishness in this region, and between us and those on the other side of the border, I am sick of the calls to annihilate my homeland.
We are people just like anywhere else in the world, with hopes and dreams for a better tomorrow and we should all be asking our government to form a joint task force with India for the explicit purpose of killing these murderers, whether they wear prayer caps or tilaks. Not getting bloody shifty eyed when we are blamed for everything going wrong under the sun.
For the Indians reading my above rant, do not assume that I feel no grief for the tragedy that has happened to you, but stop acting like you are the only ones who have been victimized. My city Karachi has killed half the number of people that died In Mumbai in the last 5 days alone by ethnic violence, still no fingers are pointed at you, i wonder why?