Here is an article of mine as it appears in The Express Tribune Blog.
Another man, another terrorist incident, another country and
another trail of blood-laden footprints leading back to Pakistan. Mohammed
Merah, the French citizen of Algerian extraction finally gave himself up and,
for better or worse, was shot dead at the hands of the French forces after the
prolonged siege at a housing estate. The 23 years old killed 7 Frenchmen,
including three solders, to “avenge Palestinian children” and to protest
against French military interventions overseas. According to the media reports,
Mohammad, just like so many others before him, visited Pakistan twice before
going on his killing spree. The purpose, presumably, was to freshen up his
shooting skills and to sharpen the pointy bits of his ideology. Any less
reformed parts of his faith would also surely have been flattened out while he
was at it.
The puritans of the pure land of ours have already taken a deep breath in, ready to burst out in a chorus denying any such link, their ever-sensitive noses sniffing out yet another conspiracy to malign the only “nuclear Muslim country" on part of the West. If there was not so much blood, gore and violence involved, this amusing semi-Newtonian cycle of action, denial, reaction and back to action, would have been an entertainment of a fairly high order.
As far as Mohammad Merah is concerned, a killer has reached the end of the road. There are idiots like him, perhaps not of the same carat, in every other society. Similarly, the world is also not void of charlatans, once again, at least not of the same calibre as ours. What the world has managed to do in the least, and what we still need to figure out how to do, is to keep a fair bit of distance between the two. If one thing needs to be done in the interests of national security, this is it. Pakistan has been the hottest place in the world for quite some time now where charlatans and idiots are allowed to intermingle and interact freely. On account of frequent stories like Mohammad Merah, it seems that the idiots do not even require a visa for the privilege.
The Sioux had a saying that “We don’t inherit this world from our ancestors. We rather borrow it from our children”. Sadly, this ancient mode of thinking is far wiser than what our two successive generations have managed; the pre-Zia generation, so grossly entrenched in the modus operandi of the Pakistan of 1960s and 70s and the Zia-generation, brought up with the Islamisation and Jehad in full swing and now in the process of taking the baton of running Pakistan. Entrenched in preserving and passing on the prejudices of the ancestors gone by, the two generations have ensured that Pakistan of tomorrow does indeed pose a very gloomy picture. Then, of course, there are the overzealous hell-bent in multiplying these prejudices before passing these on, the less said about them the better.
What has been the result? All the accumulated follies of years have taken a toll on the nation’s psyche. We have attained a nuisance value amongst the nations of the world and worse still, we also have learned to exploit and even enjoy it. We even have a word for it. It is called the “geographical importance” of Pakistan. Propagation of Jehadi ideologies, tolerance of medieval places of learning and patronage of extremist elements within the society all contribute towards this geographical importance – read nuisance value - of ours. This sorry state of affairs is all set to continue unless gods choose to interfere and we miraculously are put off targets we so lovingly chose for ourselves.
Will we ever become a normal nation? A nation preoccupied with improving the quality of life, the Human Development Index, the literacy and the life expectancy ratios of its citizens? A passing glance at the projects that will have to be cancelled, Project Jehad being one of them, make it a big ask. The amount of intellectual and physical real estate at disposal of this Jehadist enterprise, so lovingly created by us, will ensure that any attempt at clipping its wings will end up to be a bloody endeavour. One Red Mosque and the extremists within caused havoc for months in that terrible year, imagine a bigger endeavour aimed at introducing a single curriculum, sure to drain all that is held dear at our mudrassas – all at the same time! Goodluck Change!
The puritans of the pure land of ours have already taken a deep breath in, ready to burst out in a chorus denying any such link, their ever-sensitive noses sniffing out yet another conspiracy to malign the only “nuclear Muslim country" on part of the West. If there was not so much blood, gore and violence involved, this amusing semi-Newtonian cycle of action, denial, reaction and back to action, would have been an entertainment of a fairly high order.
As far as Mohammad Merah is concerned, a killer has reached the end of the road. There are idiots like him, perhaps not of the same carat, in every other society. Similarly, the world is also not void of charlatans, once again, at least not of the same calibre as ours. What the world has managed to do in the least, and what we still need to figure out how to do, is to keep a fair bit of distance between the two. If one thing needs to be done in the interests of national security, this is it. Pakistan has been the hottest place in the world for quite some time now where charlatans and idiots are allowed to intermingle and interact freely. On account of frequent stories like Mohammad Merah, it seems that the idiots do not even require a visa for the privilege.
The Sioux had a saying that “We don’t inherit this world from our ancestors. We rather borrow it from our children”. Sadly, this ancient mode of thinking is far wiser than what our two successive generations have managed; the pre-Zia generation, so grossly entrenched in the modus operandi of the Pakistan of 1960s and 70s and the Zia-generation, brought up with the Islamisation and Jehad in full swing and now in the process of taking the baton of running Pakistan. Entrenched in preserving and passing on the prejudices of the ancestors gone by, the two generations have ensured that Pakistan of tomorrow does indeed pose a very gloomy picture. Then, of course, there are the overzealous hell-bent in multiplying these prejudices before passing these on, the less said about them the better.
What has been the result? All the accumulated follies of years have taken a toll on the nation’s psyche. We have attained a nuisance value amongst the nations of the world and worse still, we also have learned to exploit and even enjoy it. We even have a word for it. It is called the “geographical importance” of Pakistan. Propagation of Jehadi ideologies, tolerance of medieval places of learning and patronage of extremist elements within the society all contribute towards this geographical importance – read nuisance value - of ours. This sorry state of affairs is all set to continue unless gods choose to interfere and we miraculously are put off targets we so lovingly chose for ourselves.
Will we ever become a normal nation? A nation preoccupied with improving the quality of life, the Human Development Index, the literacy and the life expectancy ratios of its citizens? A passing glance at the projects that will have to be cancelled, Project Jehad being one of them, make it a big ask. The amount of intellectual and physical real estate at disposal of this Jehadist enterprise, so lovingly created by us, will ensure that any attempt at clipping its wings will end up to be a bloody endeavour. One Red Mosque and the extremists within caused havoc for months in that terrible year, imagine a bigger endeavour aimed at introducing a single curriculum, sure to drain all that is held dear at our mudrassas – all at the same time! Goodluck Change!
Perhaps one day, a few Mohammad Meras will get together and end up with something really terrible. That day will bring real change in Pakistan. The world outside will ensure that we burst our bubbles with our own hands. On the current evidence, Project Jehad will continue until then.
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