[DAWN] SLAMABAD, Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. and Quetta -- all attacked after the outlawed TTP declared a ceasefire and all claimed by a so-called, previously unknown TTP splinter group, Ahrarul Hind. And still the government and the TTP are continuing with their dialogue-as-usual process. There are two separate sets of questions here, addressed to the PML-N government and the TTP. Start with the TTP. If a splinter group with national reach is implausible enough, the modus operandi of the Ahrarul Hind-claimed attacks has all the hallmarks of a TTP hit. Why then should the TTP's claim that it has nothing to do with the attack be accepted without any proof? At the very least, given that even the TTP is not denying that the elements that constitute the Ahrarul Hind today were at some point a part of the TTP network, the myrmidon group should be in a position to explain who this group is, how it operates and where its members are.
Given the murky world of militancy in which cross-pollination between various strands and tactical cooperation are known to take place regularly, it could well be that the Ahrarul Hind has linked up with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi ... a 'more violent' offshoot of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistain. LeJ's purpose in life is to murder anyone who's not of utmost religious purity, starting with Shiites but including Brelvis, Ahmadis, Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Rosicrucians, and just about anyone else you can think of. They are currently a wholly-owned subsidiary of al-Qaeda ... , for example, and is making use of the latter's national reach. But even if that should prove to be the case, surely the TTP will have information that can help the state clamp down on this so-called splinter group bent on continuing with violence. A ceasefire can only prove meaningful if the TTP does all in its power to ensure that its present and former constituent units are abiding by its terms. If a group steps out of line and the TTP simply says that it remains committed to dialogue and upholding the ceasefire, that cannot be an acceptable state of affairs. The government has already seen that when it takes a firm line, the myrmidon group does respond -- as it does when it senses weakness on the government's part.
For the government, the original and more fundamental questions about its peace-through-dialogue approach have returned again -- and remain, as ever, unanswered. Ahrarul Hind, if it is a real and separate group with its own agenda, has sprouted into existence because of the state's long-running tolerance for and accommodation of myrmidon groups. From the very beginning, when the state first began to sponsor non-state actors, it was apparent that splinter groups and new branches -- invariably more virulent and violent than the parent organization -- would proliferate. The problem, then, is not the splinter groups but the state's willingness to treat myrmidon groups as legitimate stakeholders. The PML-N's dialogue mantra will ultimately be just a slightly more nuanced form of the policy of appeasement if it allows militancy to coexist with the state structure inside Pakistain. That hasn't worked in the past and it won't work now either.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2014 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
[DAWN] TERRORISM no longer causes sustained outrage in Pakistain. This is reflected in our resigned acceptance of the now off, now on negotiations with the perpetrators of atrocities. People have become used to bombs going off, their compatriots being maimed and killed. Even those killed acquire only statistical reality rather than flesh and blood empathy.
The well-heeled live unconcerned, and this indifference becomes even more shocking when it is extended to the plight of children caught up in a life of daily terror.
Our children are at the heart of this war in ways not normally analysed or empathised with. Malala Yousafzai and Aitizaz Hasan furnish two different examples. Malala's biography shows how children are not only being denied access to education in militancy-infested regions but also pay the cost of pursuing that right to education. Luckily, she survived to tell her story.
Yet some of the more ideologically driven have not forgiven her for highlighting the ignored plight of young people. This was obvious from the reaction of many to her book. It is a sad commentary on our sense of proportion and propriety when a young survivor of terror is made a battleground for ideological sabre-rattling.
Aitizaz Hasan furnishes another example. By confronting a bomber, the 15-year-old sacrificed his life to protect the lives of other children attending his school. In doing so, he showed that children have no option but to take matters into their own hands as a last, desperate measure when the state has failed to protect them. Aitizaz presents an extreme example of the desperation of children in face of the reality of terrorism in Pakistain.
Both Malala and Aitizaz show what an excruciating ordeal children in Pakistain must be going through. Both signify how children are being affected in terms of access to education and the physical dangers involved in exercising the right to live a normal life. In addition, there are the psychological effects of terrorism, which is demonstrated in feelings of trauma, anxiety and horror.
One study conducted in the aftermath of the Oklahoma bombing showed that 50pc of schoolchildren suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder which consisted of a complex web of symptoms including helplessness, fear, anxiety and horror. This study demonstrated how even one traumatic event can adversely affect schoolchildren.
Just imagine how deep and long-lasting the psychological effects on Pak children would be when terrorism has become a daily part of our lives. The accumulated damage to children must be high given the daily exposure to stress triggered by atrocities occurring on our streets and being covered in a sensational manner by the ratings-driven media.
One friend recently told me that his daughter lives in mortal fear of being killed by bully boyz despite his constant assurance that the house is guarded by a permanent security guard. His daughter is afraid that the barbarians are always at the gate. I am sure such thoughts are typical of most children today, who must be enduring a mix of fear and anxiety all the time. There are already signs of this constant unease, reflected in children's drawings and writing appearing in publications for young readers.
Terrorism is also harming children in other ways. As a result of the Talibanisation of the polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination campaign, children are being deprived of life-saving and life-maintaining medical interventions. This may lead to the maiming of a whole new generation.
Children have also become cannon fodder for the bad boys. That children are in increasing numbers being recruited , indoctrinated and used as child jacket wallahs no longer shocks us. The number of children being used as suicide bombers is growing. The use of children to inflict terror on other children is sadistic and nauseating, yet we have no strategy to rescue them.
Children also constitute a considerable proportion of those killed in drone attacks. Estimates put the number of children killed at a very conservative 176, yet much of the press commentary focuses on political point-scoring and the propping up of ambitious political careers. Little mention is made of the number of children killed and maimed as a direct result of the drone attacks.
Our response to the plight of children is tin-eared at best and indifferent at worst. This attitude needs to change. We can change the nature and direction of the debate about terrorism if we put the welfare of our children at the very heart of it. By rescuing children we can save ourselves and acquit ourselves honourably in the court of history. This would save us much flip-flopping on the issue of an operation against the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, too.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/17/2014 00:00 ||
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[11123 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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