Pakistan in Media

The terrible aftermath of the Rawalpindi carnage is now before us. Among the 40 dead are children and the elderly. Devastated families organise funerals and try to find ways to cope with their grief. They will, like the thousands of other victims of terror, never fully recover from death that took place so mercilessly and with so little reason. It is of course ironic that the killing took place during Friday prayers – marring an occasion that is most sacred to Muslims. The men behind it clearly have no faith, no morals and no humanity. Yet, despite this, condemnation from our religious leaders has been muffled. We have not heard the kind of outcry that would be expected. Such acts of course can never be condoned. We should all ask ourselves what we can do to protest against them more strongly and urge all those with any kind of influence in society to do the same. We have heard too from people who insist that 'agents' linked to RAW carried out the act. They base their reasoning on the argument that no Muslim would carry out such pure evil. This thinking is flawed. The premise on which it is based has proven to be false again and again. The killers, who grabbed people by their hair, shot them at close range while they still stood on prayer-mats and hurled grenades into the rows of worshippers, come from among us. There is every reason to believe they are not Muslim – on the basis that no true believer would be capable of such brutality, for Islam preaches tolerance and peace and love for all. But they are not outsiders planted by enemies. This is a reality we need to accept so that we can combat it.

There is now a growing sense that the militants may have links to the security apparatus. There have been unconfirmed reports that former police or army personnel could be involved. This is something that needs to be examined in some depth. It is possible that the brainwashing that in the past used 'jihad' as a motive has somehow become distorted and is now being used against the state of Pakistan. Over the past years we have seen many terrible scenes of death. The time has come to contemplate what can be done to ensure a better future. We must consider a programme to de-brainwash the affected. We must reach into madressahs and consider what is happening there. The issues of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and frustration must be addressed. These are giant ones and cannot be tackled overnight. The question is whether our government has the ability, the competence and the will to chalk out a plan to solve these problems and, by doing so, raise the hope that we can escape the violence that has overwhelmed us.