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Opinion
Four mindsets
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, February 02, 2014
Capital suggestion
A mindset is a “fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations.” In essence, a mindset is a “set of assumptions, methods or notations held by one or more people or groups of people.”
Here are three facts. Fact 1: Over 2003-2014 fatalities in terrorist violence in Pakistan stand at 50,943. Fact 2: Over 2002-2014, there have been a total of 390 suicide attacks. Fact 3: Over 2001-2014, there have been a total of 4,754 bomb blasts.
What does a Pakistani mind make out of the above facts? Within the Pakistani society, both civil and military, there exist four mindsets – conspiratorial, strategic, appeasement and clear.
The conspiratorial mindset is convinced that whatever is happening in Pakistan is all American/Indian/Zionist doing. The strategic mindset is bent upon containing the TTP (considered anti-Pakistan) and protecting the Afghan Taliban (considered ‘strategic assets’).
The appeasement mindset desires to contain violence against the state of Pakistan by offering concessions to the perpetrators of violence. And, the clear mindset is convinced that the state of Pakistan must have monopoly over the use of physical force over every square kilometre of Pakistan’s 796,095 square kilometres.
The dominant mindset within our civil society is the conspiratorial mindset while the dominant mindset within the military top brass is the strategic mindset (contain TTP, protect Afghan Taliban). Our political leaders continue to sell whatever is the easiest to sell which happens to be the conspiratorial mindset. Our military high command, in the meanwhile, remains glued to the strategic mindset with or without doing a cost-benefit analysis of alternatives.
Within the Pakistani society, both civil and military, there also exists an appeasement mindset. Political adherents of the appeasement mindset remain convinced that appeasement can somehow contain violence. Uniformed adherents of the appeasement mindset, however, seem to have learnt their lesson from a string of failed peace agreements.
For the record, we are in a state of war. And we need to win this war; whether this is our war or not is really irrelevant at this stage. To be certain, the war is being fought at three levels – the physical battlefield, mental combat and moral combat. Mental combat is about two things – the ‘will to fight’ and the ‘belief in victory’. Moral combat is about ‘whose side is God on’. Unless we win at all three levels it cannot be a complete victory.
A conspiratorial mindset weakens the ‘will to fight’. An appeasement mindset weakens the ‘belief in victory’. A strategic mindset can surely beat the TTP on the physical battlefield but ends up strengthening the forces whose goal is to replace Pakistan’s democracy with a medieval form of Khilafat (a “TTP-Afghan Taliban handshake” according to Sartaj Aziz). Remember, unless Pakistan wins at all three levels – physical, mental and moral-it cannot be a complete victory.
Of the major political players, the PPP, while in power, was focused on the ‘monetary mindset’ and now out of power is inching closer to the clear mindset. The PTI and the JI are the flag-bearers of the conspiratorial mindset. The PML-N represents the appeasement mindset while the GHQ is full of strategic mindsets.
Someone intelligent once said, “In war there is no substitute for victory.”
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
Twitter: @saleemfarrukh
Four mindsets
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, February 02, 2014
A mindset is a “fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person’s responses to and interpretations of situations.” In essence, a mindset is a “set of assumptions, methods or notations held by one or more people or groups of people.”
Here are three facts. Fact 1: Over 2003-2014 fatalities in terrorist violence in Pakistan stand at 50,943. Fact 2: Over 2002-2014, there have been a total of 390 suicide attacks. Fact 3: Over 2001-2014, there have been a total of 4,754 bomb blasts.
What does a Pakistani mind make out of the above facts? Within the Pakistani society, both civil and military, there exist four mindsets – conspiratorial, strategic, appeasement and clear.
The conspiratorial mindset is convinced that whatever is happening in Pakistan is all American/Indian/Zionist doing. The strategic mindset is bent upon containing the TTP (considered anti-Pakistan) and protecting the Afghan Taliban (considered ‘strategic assets’).
The appeasement mindset desires to contain violence against the state of Pakistan by offering concessions to the perpetrators of violence. And, the clear mindset is convinced that the state of Pakistan must have monopoly over the use of physical force over every square kilometre of Pakistan’s 796,095 square kilometres.
The dominant mindset within our civil society is the conspiratorial mindset while the dominant mindset within the military top brass is the strategic mindset (contain TTP, protect Afghan Taliban). Our political leaders continue to sell whatever is the easiest to sell which happens to be the conspiratorial mindset. Our military high command, in the meanwhile, remains glued to the strategic mindset with or without doing a cost-benefit analysis of alternatives.
Within the Pakistani society, both civil and military, there also exists an appeasement mindset. Political adherents of the appeasement mindset remain convinced that appeasement can somehow contain violence. Uniformed adherents of the appeasement mindset, however, seem to have learnt their lesson from a string of failed peace agreements.
For the record, we are in a state of war. And we need to win this war; whether this is our war or not is really irrelevant at this stage. To be certain, the war is being fought at three levels – the physical battlefield, mental combat and moral combat. Mental combat is about two things – the ‘will to fight’ and the ‘belief in victory’. Moral combat is about ‘whose side is God on’. Unless we win at all three levels it cannot be a complete victory.
A conspiratorial mindset weakens the ‘will to fight’. An appeasement mindset weakens the ‘belief in victory’. A strategic mindset can surely beat the TTP on the physical battlefield but ends up strengthening the forces whose goal is to replace Pakistan’s democracy with a medieval form of Khilafat (a “TTP-Afghan Taliban handshake” according to Sartaj Aziz). Remember, unless Pakistan wins at all three levels – physical, mental and moral-it cannot be a complete victory.
Of the major political players, the PPP, while in power, was focused on the ‘monetary mindset’ and now out of power is inching closer to the clear mindset. The PTI and the JI are the flag-bearers of the conspiratorial mindset. The PML-N represents the appeasement mindset while the GHQ is full of strategic mindsets.
Someone intelligent once said, “In war there is no substitute for victory.”
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
Twitter: @saleemfarrukh