Barbarism and bestiality of Pakistani Taliban, the prototype of Afghan Taliban, showed its most detestable face in Peshawar, Pakistan on a fateful day, when, as a result of their attack on a school run by Pakistan army, 141 people including 132 school children were killed in cold blood. 114 others were wounded some seriously. Entire world is aghast with most reprehensible carnage indulged in by the barbarians called Taliban-e Pakistan. They have owned the responsibility, and in justification of their heinous crime, they said that they had responded to the pain inflicted on them by Pakistan Army’s zarb-e-azab operation in North Waziristan. In the spirit of avenging the killing of militants in army’s regular operation, the coward militants took revenge on 132 innocent school going kids and another eleven staffers and workers in the school.
This is not Pak Taliban’s first brutal attack on unarmed and defenceless civilians. They have unleashed barbarity against Pakistani religious minorities, the Shias, Christians, Ahmadis and Yezidis. They have also brutally killed those who speak of humanism, Islamic mercy, abjuration of violence and peaceful coexistence among people of different faiths. Thus from their standpoint the Islamic state which Jinnah, the Father of that Nation, had promised would be the home for all, is designed to be the home of only fanatical Sunni Wahhabis and none other. Not only that, even among Sunni Wahhabi category only those with connection to Punjabi regional ethnicity are eligible to be outside the boundaries of their hunting spree. Thus the State of Pakistan is a State that discriminates on widest possible parameters in order to remain an exclusivist Sunni-Wahhabi-Punjabi state in letter and in spirit.
But who created the Taliban and their branches? Who provided logistical diplomatic, moral and military support to terrorist organizations on the soil of Pakistan? Who allowed Osama bin Laden to find safe heaven in close proximity of Pakistan Army Headquarter, which, after the killing of Osma, feigned to have no knowledge of where he was. Who is sheltering, clandestinely supporting and encouraging the terrorists to carry forward their barbarian activities by sneaking into our side of the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir? And if the Frankenstein has grown fully into the shape of the angel of death stalking the streets and markets and institutions of Pakistan, there should be little surprise for anybody.
When Pakistan’s elected Government prepared to crack down on JuD and LeT militant organizations, the army looked away and thwarted the intentions of the civilian Government. But it acted strongly against the TTP and floated the zarb-e-azab campaign to liquidate the PTT, who, it found had established close links with Al Qaeda and more recently with the nascent Islamic Caliphate extending from Syria-Iraq to Eastern Turkestan including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Kashmir. In the process of carving out the Islamic Caliphate, the ISSI and its Pakistani chapters found Pakistan Army an obstacle in the way and resolved to take on it. Another reason for the TTP to lock horns with Pakistan Army was that the former suspected Pak Army working in the interests of the US. It believes that it is on the behest of the US that Pakistan army has launched a massive campaign against the TTP. It further believes that Pakistan did not really do enough to dissuade the US from its drone attacks on the insurgents in Waziristan. In one of the drone attacks TTP leader Hikmatullah had been killed.
In any case what Pakistan is facing today is the result of its own making. Pakistan army, ISI and radical leadership have been playing with fire. The Frankenstein is now in full force to extract more than what was extracted from them. World leaders have condemned the attack on school boys. President Pranab Mukherjee has sent condolence message on the fatalities to Pakistan Prime Minster. Now Pakistan will go about telling the world that she is a victim of terrorism. No doubt she is a victim and we have full sympathy with the bereaved families whose dear children have been taken away from them by the gun wielding brutes. But it is a moment of introspection for all who matter in Pakistan. We have been the target of Pakistani terrorists and we have often driven the attention of Pak authorities to the dangers involved in fanning the flames of terrorism. They called Kashmir terrorists as freedom fighters and one would like to know by what nomenclature will they call those who are responsible for Peshawar massacre?
It is late for Pakistan to realize that digging a ditch for others has dragged it to the brink of the ditch. But if any realization comes to Pakistani rulers that history will raise fingers towards them for these innocent killings, then they should mend their ways. They will have to shun violence and adopt the normal behaviour of civilized nations. It is in the interests of Pakistan and her people to avoid interfering in the internal affairs of her neighbours especially in Afghanistan and in our State of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan’s war with the TTP and the estranged fighters of the lawless regions is a long drawn battle and nobody should expect its early termination. It is very difficult to anticipate the ultimate course of events in that country. As far as we in India are concerned we would very much like that Pakistan is able to strengthen and solidify its democratic institutions and prospers as a democratic secular state with solid economy. That helps us and the entire region. Pakistan’s fragmentation will not be welcome to peace and tranquillity of the region.
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