Ganymede
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"Such incidents are not conducive to peace talks...", PM Sharif. Some revelation this
if the death toll in the Peshawar church attack had been somewhat lower, would that have facilitated peace talks?
The government had opted for a difficult choice of holding talks with the militants in the greater national interest. War was an easy option ., Interior Minister Nisar after the church attack.
The church attacks were perpetrated to sabotage peace talks with the Taliban Imran Khan. So probably the suicide bombers came from India or another planet.
Our sins are many but such flashes of insight, what have the people of Pakistan done to deserve them?
And this is our leadership, our war leadership, which is supposed to steer us out of this mess. And the army command is distracted by other things. The chief is on his way out. What laurels he has earned he has earned. Between now and his departure we can only mark time.
I keep mentioning the mass commercialism, the love of real estate, which is now part of the mindset of higher ranks in the army. I dont want to sound boring but, for the life of me, I find it hard to understand how such a mindset can face up to the challenge of Islamic militancy.
From Gen Zia onwards the army command itself fostered this militancy. Reversing the old ways requires a change of thinking, a mental makeover. Titans of real estate delivering a Kemalist revolution sounds a bit unlikely.
And the prime ministers heart is in other things: crony capitalism, concessions to the business class (a raft of tax concessions announced on the day of the Peshawar blasts) and, hard though it is to believe this, tunnels under the Margalla Hills, to create another Islamabad on the other side.
Fighting Salafi militancy, Deobandi extremism, is not easy. Granted. Their roots now run deep in our society. But our redeemers cant even get the words right. Even after the Peshawar church attack they spoke in riddles this was a conspiracy against Pakistan, Islam didnt allow for such things, etc. A straightforward denunciation of the Taliban, the resolve to give terrorism no quarter, would just not come out of them.
We used to say that the holy fathers spoke with twisted tongues, hemming and hawing and not coming straight to the point. Our present messiahs, the PML-N or the PTI, Nawaz Sharifs people or Imran Khans, are leaving the holy fathers behind. Are they scared or just being too clever?
This is all we have, and an army command which has made a virtue of procrastination, talking tough but taking decisions very, very slowly. When of a mind to act say, when shaping a national response to the Kerry-Lugar bill or whipping up a storm of indignation over the Memogate affair (remember that tamasha?) it needs neither cue nor permission from anywhere. When it comes to the threat posed by Islamic radicalism the army command becomes a stickler for constitutional propriety the political leadership must show the way.
And the political landscape is denuded of all meaningful opposition, the PPP under Zardari having virtually self-destructed, especially in the national powerhouse of Punjab. So apart from the thrill of the PTI, we just have the brilliance of the Sharifs and then nothing, a desert emptier than the Sahara.
In all our dictatorships, from Ayub onwards, there was at least the illusion of hope that dictatorships night would be succeeded by the light of morning, that Pakistan was destined to emerge from its sorrows towards a better tomorrow. For the first time the emptiness of the political landscape is so complete Punjab dominant not only politically but intellectually, a scary thought the Sharifs complemented by Imran Khan. If we are taking such pains to block our minds, no need for India to block our waters.
The poverty of the national narrative regarding terrorism and Islamic militancy is thus no accident. With such political intellectuals that Punjab has thrown up, we could only have had the All-Parties Conference we did, and no other. All students of politics should carefully study the resolution passed by that august gathering. Juvenile, badly drafted, full of clichés .to read it is to despair outright of the national condition. If this is the best our collective leadership can produce, can we get anything right?
Why then should the Taliban relent, or ease their terms, or become more reasonable? Looking at Nawaz Sharifs confused expression (and he usually has one these days), listening to Imran Khans muddled talk, taking one look at the charismatic presence of the KPK chief minister (did ever a political man wear such a sorry expression?), they would be fools not to put more psychological pressure on this befuddled lot.
In any other country, after the roadside bomb which killed Maj-Gen Sanaullah Niazi, after the outrage of the Peshawar church attack, the cry would have gone up, enough is enough. Not here where our political leaders are going round in circles, displaying more patience than an ox with blinders on turning a Persian wheel.
But as long as terrorism doesnt come to Punjab, Delhi hanooz door ast. Punjab therefore is right to have its head in the sand. From Lahore, Waziristan and even Peshawar look very far away different territories, distant problems. Balochistan, lip-service apart, is already off the national radar. The atmosphere couldnt be more right for Punjabi isolationism to thrive.
That is why a national narrative on Islamic radicalism is proving so hard to put together. We are ducking behind excuses because our hearts are not in this fight. We do not feel engaged. Our interests dont seem threatened and, in any event, the well-heeled classes know how to look after themselves. When Islamic radicalism comes closer home, when Nadir Shahs ravaging army on the march comes closer to Delhi, then we shall see.
Meanwhile, marvel at our ingenuity: asking Turkey to help us improve our police force and reform our taxation services, this on top of managing solid waste and reviving urban transport. China will help us do other things. Why stop at half-measures? Why not go the whole distance and outsource the nation? That seems logical, of a piece with our current approach to problem-solving. And we can then perhaps put our nukes in a museum if the Taliban promise not to take them away.
But most pressing national question: how to outsource the Taliban problem? Clearly, we cant handle it on our own.
Bankruptcy of the mental kind - Ayaz Amir
The government had opted for a difficult choice of holding talks with the militants in the greater national interest. War was an easy option ., Interior Minister Nisar after the church attack.
The church attacks were perpetrated to sabotage peace talks with the Taliban Imran Khan. So probably the suicide bombers came from India or another planet.
Our sins are many but such flashes of insight, what have the people of Pakistan done to deserve them?
And this is our leadership, our war leadership, which is supposed to steer us out of this mess. And the army command is distracted by other things. The chief is on his way out. What laurels he has earned he has earned. Between now and his departure we can only mark time.
I keep mentioning the mass commercialism, the love of real estate, which is now part of the mindset of higher ranks in the army. I dont want to sound boring but, for the life of me, I find it hard to understand how such a mindset can face up to the challenge of Islamic militancy.
From Gen Zia onwards the army command itself fostered this militancy. Reversing the old ways requires a change of thinking, a mental makeover. Titans of real estate delivering a Kemalist revolution sounds a bit unlikely.
And the prime ministers heart is in other things: crony capitalism, concessions to the business class (a raft of tax concessions announced on the day of the Peshawar blasts) and, hard though it is to believe this, tunnels under the Margalla Hills, to create another Islamabad on the other side.
Fighting Salafi militancy, Deobandi extremism, is not easy. Granted. Their roots now run deep in our society. But our redeemers cant even get the words right. Even after the Peshawar church attack they spoke in riddles this was a conspiracy against Pakistan, Islam didnt allow for such things, etc. A straightforward denunciation of the Taliban, the resolve to give terrorism no quarter, would just not come out of them.
We used to say that the holy fathers spoke with twisted tongues, hemming and hawing and not coming straight to the point. Our present messiahs, the PML-N or the PTI, Nawaz Sharifs people or Imran Khans, are leaving the holy fathers behind. Are they scared or just being too clever?
This is all we have, and an army command which has made a virtue of procrastination, talking tough but taking decisions very, very slowly. When of a mind to act say, when shaping a national response to the Kerry-Lugar bill or whipping up a storm of indignation over the Memogate affair (remember that tamasha?) it needs neither cue nor permission from anywhere. When it comes to the threat posed by Islamic radicalism the army command becomes a stickler for constitutional propriety the political leadership must show the way.
And the political landscape is denuded of all meaningful opposition, the PPP under Zardari having virtually self-destructed, especially in the national powerhouse of Punjab. So apart from the thrill of the PTI, we just have the brilliance of the Sharifs and then nothing, a desert emptier than the Sahara.
In all our dictatorships, from Ayub onwards, there was at least the illusion of hope that dictatorships night would be succeeded by the light of morning, that Pakistan was destined to emerge from its sorrows towards a better tomorrow. For the first time the emptiness of the political landscape is so complete Punjab dominant not only politically but intellectually, a scary thought the Sharifs complemented by Imran Khan. If we are taking such pains to block our minds, no need for India to block our waters.
The poverty of the national narrative regarding terrorism and Islamic militancy is thus no accident. With such political intellectuals that Punjab has thrown up, we could only have had the All-Parties Conference we did, and no other. All students of politics should carefully study the resolution passed by that august gathering. Juvenile, badly drafted, full of clichés .to read it is to despair outright of the national condition. If this is the best our collective leadership can produce, can we get anything right?
Why then should the Taliban relent, or ease their terms, or become more reasonable? Looking at Nawaz Sharifs confused expression (and he usually has one these days), listening to Imran Khans muddled talk, taking one look at the charismatic presence of the KPK chief minister (did ever a political man wear such a sorry expression?), they would be fools not to put more psychological pressure on this befuddled lot.
In any other country, after the roadside bomb which killed Maj-Gen Sanaullah Niazi, after the outrage of the Peshawar church attack, the cry would have gone up, enough is enough. Not here where our political leaders are going round in circles, displaying more patience than an ox with blinders on turning a Persian wheel.
But as long as terrorism doesnt come to Punjab, Delhi hanooz door ast. Punjab therefore is right to have its head in the sand. From Lahore, Waziristan and even Peshawar look very far away different territories, distant problems. Balochistan, lip-service apart, is already off the national radar. The atmosphere couldnt be more right for Punjabi isolationism to thrive.
That is why a national narrative on Islamic radicalism is proving so hard to put together. We are ducking behind excuses because our hearts are not in this fight. We do not feel engaged. Our interests dont seem threatened and, in any event, the well-heeled classes know how to look after themselves. When Islamic radicalism comes closer home, when Nadir Shahs ravaging army on the march comes closer to Delhi, then we shall see.
Meanwhile, marvel at our ingenuity: asking Turkey to help us improve our police force and reform our taxation services, this on top of managing solid waste and reviving urban transport. China will help us do other things. Why stop at half-measures? Why not go the whole distance and outsource the nation? That seems logical, of a piece with our current approach to problem-solving. And we can then perhaps put our nukes in a museum if the Taliban promise not to take them away.
But most pressing national question: how to outsource the Taliban problem? Clearly, we cant handle it on our own.
Bankruptcy of the mental kind - Ayaz Amir
