Terrorism has become an
accepted movement as it embraces the Pakistani geo-political environment with a
furious grip from which we are finding it hard to disengage. Despite hundreds of
episodes of terror, sudden surges and waves such as the one AT Peshawar APS in a
blood splattering destruction of human lives gives rise to a heightened
suffering and helplessness.
It can be seen that the common man is in no fit position to exert any influence
against such inhuman and barbaric acts despite the efforts. What we need right
now is a comprehensive reactive response by extending previous policies and laws
in light of altering security trends, where major terror networks inside the
tribal regions have received massive drawbacks and are ready for the final
expulsion.
Sacrifices of thousands of soldiers and innocent tribal people have ensured the
fact that strongholds and absolute hegemony over huge expanses of the tribal
land have been recovered, but the war remains far from over. Internal
strangulation and restriction of movement faced by the extremist inside
Pakistan, apparently, does not ensure a curb on their activity unless such
similar and strong measures are taken by the forces across the porous border of
Afghanistan that cannot boast the presence of enough check posts to scrutinize
the diffusion of miscreants along with an unlimited supply of arms and funding
to carry on the insurgency.
Furthermore, underhand operations of the Indian consulates in the Afghan
territory has become a major source of irritation for the Pakistani forces as a
relentless supply of arms and gadgets is being supplied to the militants that
keeps fueling the insurgency in the Pakistani soil. These militant sanctuaries
need to be dismantled and the terror nexus destroyed in order for peace to
prevail in both countries which is possible only through close cooperation. In
the long war perspective, where the Taliban momentum increases despite the
increased military operations, it can safely be concluded that victory cannot be
defined on the basis of how many terrorists have been killed, but how many have
undergone an ideological transformation.
The terrorist ideology is what needs to come under sever critical analysis with
a surge – not in troops – but in alternate philosophies based fundamentally on
tolerance, perseverance and the love of humanity as their underlying postulates.
A half hearted effort, however, in this direction has been made by religious
scholars but have remained unable to proceed any further from the most basic
stage of denouncing suicide bombing, classing them ‘haraam’ that is, prohibited
in Islam, without arriving to the next, which inevitably comprises of an equally
potent counter religious narrative to replace the previous one in order to
convert the radicalized militant mind style.
With a lethal cocktail of armies from all over the globe applying all sorts of
fancy strategies, spending millions of dollars to limit the physical space, the
psychological space is, as a consequence, continuously expanding, where mutual
grievances and protracted frustrations coupled with a need to reverse the
prevalent power structure gives rise to a shared psyche that brings all
different factions under a similar umbrella. The extremists! One has to realize,
however, that ideologies face no spatial or temporal constraints as they are not
bound to be specific to any region, race, culture or a time period. They stem
from any and every region where discontent and deprivation are nurtured and
propagated through social structures, thus making it an immensely complex
phenomenon to control and reverse, as entire mega structures need to be
dismantled for it to be reversed.
The growing realization and assertions made by the government to root terror out
of the system representatives is certainly a positive indicator as it shows a
slight shift in policy. This has spelled out the need for enhancing the
functioning of civilian law enforcement apparatus that has become defunct under
the inaptitude and negligence of the civil authorities.
Therefore, a change is desperately called for at both the Material and Human
resource levels that may bring about a change in the working methodologies
adopted by them so far. In this backdrop, effective new policies and strategies
have to be devised and implemented in order to enhance the competence and
performance of each and every individual through a comprehensive training and
education program. The Capacity building regime carried out for the local police
force by the armed forces in Balochistan may provide a perfect model that may be
followed by the government to develop the potentials and skills of an individual
soldier in order to undertake higher levels of work.
Furthermore, the obsolete gadgetry and devises need to be enhanced for optimal
functioning such as the use of computer for data storage, retrieval and
information sharing for a much speedier action. Furthermore, high tech
surveillance and transport systems may also increase working tempo. It must be
noticed that the dazzling prospects of career advancement and the possibility of
rewards amplifies the performance of any individual. With a heightened capacity
to cope with current war situation one can certainly expect a tangible change in
the number of criminal incidents.
One nation alone can neither fight terrorism nor can it reverse the momentum of
the terrorist. It has to be agreed that Pakistan, despite its shortcomings, has
given it the best it can. The terror networks have received severe setbacks that
have been instrumental in altering their operational mechanism and increased
their vulnerability. This is evident from the fact that the use of soft targets
by the terrorists such as women and children has become popular. A careful
monitoring reveals a change in the strategic intensions of the terrorists that
is targeting places with religious significance.
Despite curbs and curtailment, the terror threat is far from over. This, however
calls for a renewed and revised strategy to take counter insurgency to the next
level. The need for the civilian government to support the achievements of the
security forces and bolster their accomplishments to undermine and undercut the
insurgency is primary and is being seen clearly. It is time that the authorities
along with all stakeholders start performing to relieve us of the burden of
terrorism that Pakistan can ill afford.