Friday, May 01, 2009
There is a prevailing dread among many people that history is repeating itself. We have seen two years of operations ending in peace deals and the people affected have blamed the army for leaving in the middle of operations and the government for ignoring the atrocities of the Taliban. The public and the media have recognised the threat that the Taliban pose to all of Pakistan and there has been a positive reaction this time, but in the past, both have been quite pro-Taliban. Now again there are calls to 'stop killing our own people', faint but carrying the threat of magnification by those buzzards of Pakistani society, the ignorant commoner and the political opportunist. It is time Pakistanis set their priorities right. It is time to recognise your own people.
Your own people are the soldiers who have died for you, not those who have killed them. Your own people are the men who have fought for your country, not those who have slaughtered them like animals and left them for dogs to feed on. Your own people are the policemen still reporting to duty, not those who behead them in the name of your religion. Your own people are those who support your government, not those who execute them for it. Your own people are the ones who take up arms to defend their families, not the ones who hoard weapons to destroy them. Your own people are those whose faith lies in their hearts, and not in their beards. Your own people are those who work to earn their living, not the ones who live to steal the earnings of others. Your own people are those who are the first on the scene to help when a bomb goes off, not the ones who detonate the bomb. Your own people are the ones who serve your religion inviting by their example, not the ones who have scarred it to the point of repulsiveness by theirs. Your own people are those being dug out of their graves, not the ones digging them out. Your own people are those whose dead bodies are slung on poles in market places, not the ones responsible for hanging them there. Your own people are the ones who embrace death to protect you, not the ones who kill themselves while attacking you. Your own people are the believers who enter the mosque to worship Allah, not the kuffaar who enter the house of Allah to massacre those believers. Your own people are those who have lost facilities of medicine and education, not the ones who are the cause of this deprivation.
Your own people are the ones who have worked for years to pull you towards 21st century advancement, not the ones who threaten to take you back to the Stone Age. Your own people are the ones who will suffer deformities for the rest of their lives, not the ones who deny them the few drops that could ensure perfect health. Your own people are those who are being lashed, not the ones who wield the whip. Your own people are the ones oppressed, not the ones who subjugate them. Your own people are the ones that have always cultivated peace in your country, not the ones who bring strife from across the border. Your own people are those who want the democracy of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) in Medina, not those who crave the dictatorship of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Your own people are those who are trying to bring you awareness of the menace that looms just beyond vision, not the ones trying to lull you into a false feeling of security. Your own people are the ones who are being intimidated, not the ones terrorising them.
It is time to distinguish your well wishers from the power-crazed enemy that has despoiled your religion and tarnished your identity the world over. There is no justification for suicide attacks and militancy. We must not accept punishment for the 'injustice', real or imaginary, of other countries. Those who have a bone to pick with America must pick it with America, not Pakistan. There is no remedy for a malignant tumour but to remove it before it reaches vital organs. It can never be 'contained' in one part of the body forever. Either we operate now, or risk lessening or worse, losing completely our chances of survival.
Noor Khan
Islamabad
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