fatman17
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Is it our war?
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A debate is still going on whether the war Pakistan is fighting in the tribal areas is its own or someone else's. The article by Aoun Sahi in the Political Economy section of The News on Sunday (November 8) titled "Back to normal" should be an eye-opener for those who keep on disowning the military operation. It was indeed very comforting information that Swat has almost returned to normalcy. The people of Swat have had a sigh of relief after a long time as schools re-opened, trading activities revived and the reign of terror came to a screeching halt.
The agenda of the perverted mindset of religious extremists was already in place even before the American intervention in Afghanistan. The fuel to the fire was, however, added when the operation took off in Afghanistan and in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The terrorists were organised, funded and equipped by external anti-Pakistan forces to weaken and destabilise Pakistan.
The terrorist forces would have established their own tyrant rule in the tribal areas if the armed forces of Pakistan had not launched a full-fledged operation. In my view, this operation should have been launched even earlier, when the extremists had paralysed everything in different parts of the tribal areas. Swatis and a majority of tribal people are patriotic, forward-looking and moderate, and they deserve peace, security and support to have a dignified life which hitherto was denied to them by the extremists.
Dr Najeeb A Khan
Islamabad
*****
There is a great misconception that terrorism in Pakistan started after 9/11. It's not true. It started in the early 90s when the same militants belonging to sectarian groups started targeting minority sects in Pakistan. These terrorist groups attacked all minority sects.
At that time people were less concerned because only minority sects were suffering. But due to the government's lack of action and people's ignorance the monster of terrorism grew to such an extent that militants were able to penetrate not only into our society but also spread their network to many countries of the world. It also resulted in great setbacks to Pakistan's international reputation. It was the Musharraf government that started a campaign against terrorists. He banned all sectarian organisations for the first time and captured or killed a number of big terrorists. Since his government was the first to do it through government and intelligence agencies, these terrorist groups started targeting it. Because of 9/11 the government of Pakistan got the opportunity to severe its previous ties with these jihadi groups who were playing havoc with the people of Pakistan at that time.
I am surprised to hear people say that it is not our war. If it is not our war then should we allow killings of our innocent men, women and children? Our schools have been destroyed and our mosques and imambargahs are no more safe.
The Pakistan army is being attacked and so many brilliant officers and jawans are dead. People are brutally slaughtered like animals and a reign of terror has been established everywhere because of deadly suicide bombings. All negotiations with militants failed as the whole nation witnessed prior to the launch of the Swat operation. The militants' agenda is different from ours they want to destroy Pakistan and capture its strategic and nuclear assets. How can we let them freely do their acts of barbarism? Thank God, after so many years, the people of Pakistan have started to realise that the war on terror is our own and that we have no option but to eliminate extremists.
Dr Fareeha Khanum
Mardan
Thursday, November 12, 2009
A debate is still going on whether the war Pakistan is fighting in the tribal areas is its own or someone else's. The article by Aoun Sahi in the Political Economy section of The News on Sunday (November 8) titled "Back to normal" should be an eye-opener for those who keep on disowning the military operation. It was indeed very comforting information that Swat has almost returned to normalcy. The people of Swat have had a sigh of relief after a long time as schools re-opened, trading activities revived and the reign of terror came to a screeching halt.
The agenda of the perverted mindset of religious extremists was already in place even before the American intervention in Afghanistan. The fuel to the fire was, however, added when the operation took off in Afghanistan and in the tribal areas of Pakistan. The terrorists were organised, funded and equipped by external anti-Pakistan forces to weaken and destabilise Pakistan.
The terrorist forces would have established their own tyrant rule in the tribal areas if the armed forces of Pakistan had not launched a full-fledged operation. In my view, this operation should have been launched even earlier, when the extremists had paralysed everything in different parts of the tribal areas. Swatis and a majority of tribal people are patriotic, forward-looking and moderate, and they deserve peace, security and support to have a dignified life which hitherto was denied to them by the extremists.
Dr Najeeb A Khan
Islamabad
*****
There is a great misconception that terrorism in Pakistan started after 9/11. It's not true. It started in the early 90s when the same militants belonging to sectarian groups started targeting minority sects in Pakistan. These terrorist groups attacked all minority sects.
At that time people were less concerned because only minority sects were suffering. But due to the government's lack of action and people's ignorance the monster of terrorism grew to such an extent that militants were able to penetrate not only into our society but also spread their network to many countries of the world. It also resulted in great setbacks to Pakistan's international reputation. It was the Musharraf government that started a campaign against terrorists. He banned all sectarian organisations for the first time and captured or killed a number of big terrorists. Since his government was the first to do it through government and intelligence agencies, these terrorist groups started targeting it. Because of 9/11 the government of Pakistan got the opportunity to severe its previous ties with these jihadi groups who were playing havoc with the people of Pakistan at that time.
I am surprised to hear people say that it is not our war. If it is not our war then should we allow killings of our innocent men, women and children? Our schools have been destroyed and our mosques and imambargahs are no more safe.
The Pakistan army is being attacked and so many brilliant officers and jawans are dead. People are brutally slaughtered like animals and a reign of terror has been established everywhere because of deadly suicide bombings. All negotiations with militants failed as the whole nation witnessed prior to the launch of the Swat operation. The militants' agenda is different from ours they want to destroy Pakistan and capture its strategic and nuclear assets. How can we let them freely do their acts of barbarism? Thank God, after so many years, the people of Pakistan have started to realise that the war on terror is our own and that we have no option but to eliminate extremists.
Dr Fareeha Khanum
Mardan
