The start of military operation Zarb-e-Azb in June 2014 in North Waziristan took Pakistan into the last round against the terrorism. The Pakistan Army is steadily clearing all areas where the terrorists have established strong footholds. It has been months since the operation has started; Pakistan Army has achieved massive success so far by destroying many weapon factories and killing more than 1000 terrorists. Zarb-e-Azb is progressing successfully, and it is expected that the operation will result in elimination of terrorism from Pakistan.
The question may arise, will annihilating TTP or killing all the terrorists eliminate terrorism from Pakistan? I’m afraid this might not be the case. Because crushing Taliban’s is not the ultimate solution. The need of hour is to abolish the mindset that has been working behind TTP, it’s about the ideology behind Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. What has driven Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan to such violence that they started using religion as a shield for their activities? It’s about extremism in our society.
Now, we may ask who is the propagator of this extremism? The answer that flashed in our mind is, Mullah! Yes. Mullahs and their Madrissas are the fanaticism factories in Pakistan. Clearly, Mullahs have hijacked our religion and have made a wretched rendition of Islam that fits neither in the past nor the present. They have distorted religion for their own purposes. Mullahs have assumed control, politicized and contaminated religion and have brought it to this regretful stage that it is in now.
The ‘business’ of these clerics is reliant upon debating superficial issues like the covering/veiling of females, length of beards for men, the permissibility of women driving and so forth. They have misguided people and have led them into oblivion.
And so just tackling the TTP won’t have any effect, unless we deal with elements supporting them. Terrorism can only be ended by reprogramming of minds. Unlawful groups, Madrissas, Jamats, are getting many governmental benefits under one pretext or another. These groups ought to be banned from promoting feeling of violence and anarchy. There ought to be some checks on these Deeni Madrissas, and they need to be kept under observation in order to establish their sources of funding and monitor their activities.
So, for Pakistan to become a terror free country, we must take immediate steps to eradicate the primary cause of terrorism lurking around us in the form of extremist Mullahs and Madrissas. In Zarb-e-Azb we must fight alongside our military.
Bravo to PKKH for publishing this scathing but truthful article…it must be difficult to accept this unfortunate but real situation that is close to the hearts of every good Muslim…but it must be done if Pakistan is to ever get past the terrorist ideology…bravo to PKKH for having the courage to print the truth…