The whole world accuses us of bloodletting. We are in denial. Not only we have failed in catching up with the pace of events we set in motion unwittingly many decades ago, we are simply not aware of the gravity of the situation. We are in two minds how to deal with the monster that is already chipping way our very existence as a nation.

It is no cliché. Pakistan fortunately does not have legs and won't run away from us. However, Pakistan, as Pakistan of Jinnah and Iqbal, will not remain the same. There is already nothing unique in the nomenclature. The name does not espouse old feelings of peace, serenity, innocence and placid life anymore; the life which was only disturbed by occasional thunder of gleeful laughter of youngsters or noisy pranks of gaily dressed children in Parks.

Now a days there is no peace and there is lots of noise around us; louder, scary noise. And there is only one colour around us; red colour. Maimed, charred and disfigured bodies, flying organs, crying babies holding on to the breasts of their dead mothers, scared old men women and children dazed by the inhumanity strewn all around them are here only to augment its deathly impact. Pakistan has already changed; to worse.

It did not happen overnight. The process of our slow and painful death started many decades ago. Not that we were flying, still in 1980 Pakistan was far above the abysmal state we have fallen into. We had to travel hard for about 33 years with uncanny persistency to reach the precipice.

To counter terror we first must defeat the ideology that breeds terror otherwise the fight will linger on.

Since beginning of the time we find that there was a fatal flaw in the politics of the country that was run by so-called secularists, however, the Beards, simpletons who are only rivaled in their destructiveness by their passion for ignorance and its dissemination, augmented the process of death. Their disregard to human civilization and its institutions, sanctioned by their own whims in the name of Islam, is unbounded curse humanity is faced with in the 21st century.

These Frankenstein monsters we created in seventies have now come of age and the predators are ready now to gourmandize their creator. That which was created to destroy others have come back to destroy us. Shakespeare in Macbeth eminently summed up such situation.

“ … But in these cases

We still have judgment here; that we but teach

Bloody instructions, which, being taught, return

To plague the inventor: this even-handed justice

Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice

To our own lips.”

We have become metamorphosed personification of famous English proverb ' As ye sow, so shall ye reap'', and we even cannot claim any benefit of doubt as we have its parallel in our local languages as well which goes like this; 'if you dig the pit for others one day you'll fall into it yourself.' Even the bible says, 'He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it; and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him." Ecclesiastes 10:8. In Psalms 7:15-16, it goes like this "He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate."

We abandoned all golden teachings of Islam how to run society on just lines and committed all what was devilish, unnecessary and futile. God Almighty in the Quran says, '' Whoever participates in a good cause, will be rewarded. Whoever participates in an evil cause, will bear the consequences thereof, Allah oversees all things.'' 4:85 The Quran further says, '' Do not fight wars of aggression.2:190 ''Good and evil are not the same. Repel evil with goodness. That way your enemies will become your friends.'' 41:34 We did not reach out to the enemy and preferred violence over diplomacy. We sowed the seeds of our own downfall. Today we are reaping what we had sown. This is the harvest of our foolish leaders whose policies led Pakistan astray.

When Jamaat e Islami was acting as auxiliary militia in East Pakistan in 1971 it was only playing out the role that was directed by General Headquarters and inter-Services Intelligence. Weakling political leadership was always on board. Who's to blame?

The religious right, the fundamentalists, this product of rage and ignorance, danced on the tunes orchestrated by the secular powers that be. Their role in 1977 agitation against Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was monumental to the complete satisfaction of their masters. General Zia, the darkest face of obscurantism in Pakistan, augmented Jamat-e Islami role as team 'B' of military regime. Then came the Afghanistan Jihad of early eighties against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Zia toeing the line of his masters opted out for militancy as against diplomacy. We forgot that violence only breeds violence. In an urge to serve our masters well we forgot all about the teachings of Islam as regards our neighbours' rights on us. Rather we were happy to see various brands of Jihadi outfits among us active on both fronts: Afghanistan and Kashmir.

After the Kargal debacle we squarely realized that violence cannot replace diplomacy and after the Russian so called defeat in Afghanistan we came to the bitter realization that the abstract concept of strategic depth on our western flanks was nothing more than an aberration.

Now as we are left out in the open. Our enemies of our own making are well trenched in the folds of innocent citizenry or they are nebulous in the layers of rocky mountains in the North. People flabbergasted along with their masters do not know what tomorrow entails for them.

The Quran says, ''It is good to help the poor and make peace.'' 4:114 However, peace cannot be reached with criminals. Then other verses of the Quran on justice guide us. ''O ye who believe! Be ye staunch in justice, witnesses for Allah, even though it be against yourselves or (your) parents or (your) kindred, whether (the case be of) a rich man or a poor man, for Allah is nearer unto both (them ye are). So follow not passion lest ye lapse (from truth) and if ye lapse or fall away, then lo! Allah is ever Informed of what ye do.'' 4:135 (Pickthall)

Rulers' soft corner for terrorists is deadlier than the suicide bombings. We must have a straightforward policy against terrorism. We should talk with those who want to talk under the parameters of the constitution of the country and abandon violence as means to political gains. No talks can be held with criminals, terrorists and foreign agents who want to destroy the country and tarnish its ideology. We can be in for a long haul with terrorists, but this is how nations survive.

 
Introduction 

Since beginning we find that there was a fatal flaw in the politics of the country that was run by so-called secularists, however, the Beards, simpletons who are only rivaled in their destructiveness by their passion for ignorance and its dissemination, augmented the process of death.

 First appeared in The Suite101on Feb 14, 2014

Our soldiers are alert on all fronts

Terror cannot defeat Pakistan

Bueautiful lakes in the north of Pakistan

Gorgeous Islamabad