Shikata Ga Nai
By Anwaar Hussain
The terrorists have struck Lahore yet again and Shikata Ga Nai is a Japanese language phrase. To this phrase we shall return in a moment.
With every terrorist attack, while the body parts of the victims are still scattered on the scene of the carnage, we Pakistanis, common citizens and intelligentsia alike, go into an overdrive in denying the obvious. A blizzard of statements like, “these cannot be Pakistanis”, “these are not Muslims”, “this is not Islam” and last but not the least, “this is an Indo-Zionist conspiracy” spring forth from all corners of the country. Apart from being a terrible joke played on the victims of the violence, these statements are indicators of a complete state of denial in the Pakistani nation, and a dangerous one at that.
Let there be no mistake that these terrorists are Pakistanis, they are Muslims, this is their version of Islam and they are serving its cause, there is no Indo-Zionist conspiracy against Pakistan, at least nothing more than what Pakistan has been sponsoring against these very same entities, and we need to WAKE UP. Period.
Let us take up each statement on its own merit.
The state of Pakistan has officially admitted that in almost all the attacks, the terrorists have been Pakistanis. Not only that, Jihadi organizations themselves have openly, proudly, categorically and repeatedly claimed credit for their numerous violent acts in the national and international media. It cannot get any better than that and it should effectively put to rest the first three assertions.
Now let us take up the last one i.e. “Indo-Zionist conspiracy” against Pakistan. Even if there is such a thing, we need to answer a few questions honestly. Why is it that when the state of Pakistan conjures, promotes, plans, and executes strategies against India or Israel, or any other nation for that matter, these become policy imperatives vital to our ‘national interests’ yet when our opponents do the same in their ‘national interest’ these are called ‘conspiracies’ against us? What a skewed sense of fairness do we have.
Or look at it form another angle. Why is it that our enemies are able to ‘conspire’ lethal schemes against us, recruit executors for it and then operate with impunity in broad daylight on our home turf? Is it not a clear case of cancer taking root and spreading only in a receptive host body? Can a man blame his neighbor for being able to sow discord in his home? I mean where has our sense of balance gone in these testing times?
When a problem exists, the road map to solution courses through a 4-step approach. First and foremost–admit there is a problem. Next–identify its root cause. Third–debate the possible solutions and select the appropriate one/s. Lastly, of course, implement the plan.
Calling the act itself as ‘the problem’ is not ‘admitting the problem’. That is fooling our selves. It is more like calling the symptom the disease. When as a nation, we are not any where near step-1, it is pointless to talk of solutions.
The problem itself is pretty straight forward though. Extremists, having a global agenda stemming from a convoluted sense of religion, are on a rampage in the country as a first step. The mockery, laughter, and scorn by elements in the Pakistani media, blogs, and even common citizenry, when one talks of admitting this exact crisis, not only shows no real understanding of the threat facing our country but has in fact become a part of the problem.
And we have seen that this kind of Jihad is not a shaggy dog story. Its ideology, embracing death and causing mayhem, is demonstrated almost every day throughout the country. Those mocking discussion of this threat and ideology continue to undermine the War of Ideas in Pakistan, and undercut the efforts of moderate Pakistanis to resist radical Islamism and Jihadis. Unfortunately, so pervasive is the malady that this grim dilemma now cuts across all socio-economic backgrounds and levels of education.
The continuing dangerous denial of the threats of this ‘Jihad’, its ideology, and refusal to debate the issues of political agenda of these extremists represents the most treacherous fault line in Pakistan’s national security today. When concerns about this ‘Jihad’ and radical Islamism are a source of derision for Pakistani media, political organizations and common Pakistanis, then clearly the Jihadis are winning the War of Ideas.
And this brings us to a most regrettable conclusion. And that is that if ever there was a conspiracy against Pakistan, here is one. The radicals are playing havoc with our bodies and souls and we are marching, lemming like, towards our national grave laughing all the way. We are the conspirators against our own selves.
Perhaps it would be better if along the way we sang in a chorus Shikata Ga Nai. If nothing else, it would dull the pain of the increasingly hurting assaults in the short journey that remains.
Shikata Ga Nai means “it can’t be helped” or “nothing can be done about it”.
-*-*-
V never know abt the master players of the game. that’s they main problem in pakistan, there are a lot of proxies. let me tell u story of an old man crossing a security check post on Eid.
Army man; baba where r u going?
baba; to the market son
Army man; can i ask u some questions?
Baba; yes yes go on
Army man;baba are we bad people?
baba> no no what are u saying, you belong to Pakistan army, u r defender of this country, we are proud of you.
Army man;are taliban a bad people?
Baba; no no the are out on Allah’s war, they are mujaheddin don’t even think of that.
Army man;then who are the bad guys?
old man; ah bad ppl? are we people of this valley who stuck b/w u and them and that s why both of u are here.
March 31st, 2009 at 4:15 amI love the 4-step approach to problem solving. Power to the People.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:22 amDear Mr. Anwaar. I suggest you a topic for your next article and a solution to end terrorism and extremism in pakistan.
Pakistan’s government must announce freezing their war on terrorism for 6 months.
Do not take any dollars from US in the meanwhile
Announcement must be made by all the media that any foreigner who wants to leave Pakistan / Fata can leave the country without any restriction. It must include OBL (if he is hiding any where here). And the govt must honour their committment to provide safe exit passage to anybody who wants to leave the country but feels cornered / trapped somewhere in Pakistan.
We are fighting not our war. Let these guys leave the country in a safe manner because our beloved country has become play ground for all these forces of evil and trouble.
While giving exit facility to all the criminals / terrorists/ or any body we must not track them and must close our eyes on the exit routes no matter what.
I guarantee you that things will change here in Pakistan and life will start coming to normal.
‘xpakistani”
March 31st, 2009 at 7:40 amYou rightly pointed out that “extremists, having a global agenda stemming from a convoluted sense of religion, are on a rampage in the country”. Now we can either deal with them by ourselves or we can seek help from BIG BROTHER. Actually both answers are correct. We need big bro’s intel networks to go after the big fish while we ourselves need to tame the fire brand mullahs who brain wash our illiterate masses and help in creating the extremists. That ‘maligned’ phrase of yester years namely ENLIGHTENED MODERATION, if applied properly, may still work for us.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:52 amThis is another nice article.
But I would love to see some detailed statistics on the number of the Jihadi’s currently operating in Pakistan. There may be other sources to get this information. But to hear this from some one who knows the tribal demography like the back of his hand, is what I am looking for.
Another thing…there have always been fundamentalist religious factions in Pakistan. They had been in power and adequate control with in the tribal areas. There have to be a presence of infused catalyst elements and factors that have exploded and directed these fundamentalists towards anti state activities.
Imran Khan says and I quote” 2004 and before there was no such Chaos”. Comment please
March 31st, 2009 at 5:49 pmAnwaar Lala writes well, as the Red Indians say not with a forked tongue — He is true. And as they say in Pushtu rishtia wael da din mazab kanzal de.
March 31st, 2009 at 10:25 pmSir, It is frustrating to witness the inanity and apathy of our entire nation on such a critical issue. Is it only the scribe who can see that we’ve yet to tackle the first hurdle of this problem……”realising, we’ve a problem”? How long will our leadership or even our masses act like the cliche pigeon and keep playing this blame game?
April 1st, 2009 at 12:16 amI’ve started to wonder, was this the concept of Islam in his mind when Quaid-e-Azam was fighting for a separate country? I hope anybody has the guts to tell me NO and then explain me WHY ………
Pakistan zinda bad
Once again you have hit the nail on the head.
“Other” is the name of denial.
It matters not what country you are in because the power structure
will always play the “other” card and the people will rally around
that concept because it is far easier than facing themselves.
You can always stone the other guy because YOU are righteous!
The fact is that it is built into the dysfunctional family system so how on earth could it ever change on a national level.
“We are the conspirators against our own selves”, as you stated is the bottom line.
The real work has to be faced on the personal level before it can ever be altered on a national level.
And that my friend is the challenge!
April 1st, 2009 at 8:04 amI always admired your writings but this time, you have sounded like one of the OUTSIDER. You have lived out side Pakistan for over a decade and now again living abroad you are so sure that the terrorists are Pakistanis? Can you not distinguish between an Afghan and a Pakistani?
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 amThere is new trend in the current crop of journalist, that India and the foreign powers are not at all involved in the mayhem in Pakistan, and that it is an old beaten track that the Pakistani Govt starts blaming India, US and all that. From where TTP are getting their weapons, their wages, and the communication equipment?
Plaease stop cursing your country, come and live in it and be part of it.
The News Editorial
Screams and Silence
Sunday, April 05, 2009
The agonizing screams of the 17-year-old girl, whose public flogging in Swat was captured on video and played out before a shocked nation, still echoes through homes. This in itself is unusual in a country where reaction to almost any outrage is now virtually non-existent; we seem to live our lives in a kind of drugged stupor, almost oblivious to what goes on around us. Perhaps this is the only way to survive in so brutalized a society. The initial attempt by the NWFP government to downplay the incident and then to term it a conspiracy is a symptom of this malaise. We would pretend we simply do not see things rather than attempt to address them. It is for this reason that those who killed a widowed school teacher for refusing to give up work or flogged at least 25 other people in Swat have never been punished.
The SC’s suo motu notice of the incident and its call to the victim to appear before it is of course welcome. The CJ is clearly determined to keep up his tradition of seeking out the most vulnerable and doing what he can to ease their suffering.
But is this enough? The answer is an unequivocal ‘no’ – of course it is not enough. When women were buried alive in Balochistan our government appointed a man who defended that act of barbarity as a minister; when another woman was thrown, quite literally, to dogs in Sindh we seem to have witnessed a cover-up of events. And now that an act of extraordinary evil has been played out on television screens we hear nothing but silence from official quarters.
It is all very well for people to act; as we have seen before the atrocious act of brutality will be protested by activists. But is this enough? The fact is that we need the state to move in as a player. To do what it is intended to in regulating the lives of people. The fact that a teenager was beaten to near death in the streets of Swat while bearded men pinned her to the ground demonstrates that the so called ‘Nizam-e-Adl’ enforced in the province means nothing at all. What kind of justice would allow people – in this case let us not forget a mere child – to be treated in this fashion? It is shameful that the provincial government made an effort to deny an outrage had even been committed; that it has entered into deals with extremists who openly defended the flogging on the grounds that the girl had acted immorally.
This silence is all the more appalling given that the ANP was elected on a manifesto in which it emphasized its opposition to extremism, maintained it stood for secular liberal values and was determined to defend the rights of people who had suffered long and very badly under the militants. Instead, it has completely betrayed these people – opting instead to stand by maddened, blood-thirsty militants who have the audacity to defend what happened and justify the terrible punishment meted out. There is now no doubt at all that the party of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan is dead; so too is the party of Zulfikar Bhutto. Instead we are ruled by fumbling idiots who clearly do not have the backbone to take a stand against the militants and rescue us from the depravity into which we have been plunged.
There is still time for the government – in the province and in the centre — to act. It must take a stand against militants; it must end the acts of insanity we see in the streets and it must demonstrate a real commitment to rescuing people from the reign of these men who have unleashed their wrath on innocent people. We wait to see if they will act. If they cannot, or are unwilling to, do so, the only honourable path left open is for the ANP government in the Frontier to step down. If people cannot be saved from extremists, if young girls are to be beaten nearly to death on roads while people look helplessly on, we can say safely that we have bid farewell to civilization. Only a government willing to make an attempt to restore it has any right to run affairs – otherwise it can have no justification for remaining in office as barbarians operate freely across the province and subject its people to their crazed notion of what religion is all about.
http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=170874
April 4th, 2009 at 9:25 pmThe Daily Times Editorial
The state has given up…
President Asif Ali Zardari has “ordered an inquiry” into the public flogging of a 17-year-old girl in Swat, and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has taken his famous suo moto notice by asking the IGP NWFP to produce the girl in court. But we all know nothing can be done against the Taliban who did the evil deed, and that the girl will not come to the court unless the Taliban allow it. More likely, she may be killed instead of being allowed to attend the CJ’s court. As for the ANP government, it had better look after Peshawar because it is once again under siege from the Khyber warlord.
What if the girl can actually be brought to the court? What will follow may embarrass us further. There is nothing anyone can do against the deeds of those who rule Swat. Sufi Muhammad is more offended with Islamabad for not signing the sharia deal and less worried about the flogging of the girl. His son-in-law Fazlullah, whose men do the beheadings and the floggings, has actually returned to Imam Dheri and was in the madrassa right after the Friday sermon of the Sufi. He has made his comeback to the place after two years. Things are going well for the Taliban.
The nation has literally shrieked in protest, but the TV channels were not as united as they were when the Long March was taking place. As a majority showed the national outrage, some actually took the line that the video that showed the girl being flogged was “cooked up” somewhere outside Pakistan and released through a lackey NGO to sabotage the peace in Swat. The “liberals” were roundly abused and — and this is new — action was recommended against them because they were “disloyal to Pakistan” and its ideology. One said: “How could she have walked away after the flogging?” The suppressed desire was that the flogging should have been tougher.
The Barelvis spoke out from among the clergy. It was the usually “tight” conservative Mufti Munibur Rehman who said that the flogging was un-Islamic because the punisher did not have recourse to a properly state-backed court. The Sunni Tehreek, which was massacred by Deobandi terrorists in 2006 in Karachi, spoke out too, saying Islam did not tolerate such debasement of women. But the spokesman of the Taliban said it was an old video and the punishment was deserved. Our top Islamic intellectual Javed Ghamidi condemned the flogging but he carries no gun and therefore his opinion carries no weight.
The ANP government spokesman can’t be blamed for being defensive. The Peshawar government knows that over 5000 Swat Taliban have just defeated a 20,000-strong army force there and Islamabad is still interested more in worrying about and fighting India than the terrorists. And Peshawar concentrates blamelessly on getting the Swatis back in Swat plying their trades as of old. It is no longer important who rules and who does what to the people after that. Whether the girl was flogged a fortnight ago or nine months ago, the fact is that the people who commit these crimes are the ones who will possibly rule from now on.
There is impotence peeping out from the fury of the editorials. One paper opined: “You members of the softly-spoken majority have a choice to make. Either you continue to speak but have your words drowned by those who would publicly whip your sisters, mothers, daughters and wives for whatever petty gossip is purveyed by jealous or malicious neighbours; or you raise your voices loud in protest”. Sadly, the time to raise voices is past. The state has to fight back to save itself from dying. But it seems that it plans to surrender quietly simply because its army is more interested in fighting the highly exaggerated “external” enemies on the borders.
More dangerously, the nation is divided between those who are scared and those who want the Taliban order to prevail simply because it is “Islamic”. The Taliban were “mis-described” when they ruled in Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda has never been accepted as a real and present danger to Pakistan. And to keep the world out while we succumb, our rulers lean on the guaranteed UN myth of “state sovereignty”. *
April 4th, 2009 at 9:26 pmSuicide bombers are Pakistanis, says Malik
Monday, April 06, 2009
RAWALPINDI/CHAKWAL: Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik has said that those involved in the suicide bombings are Pakistanis and that they are playing with the lives of innocent people for the sake of a few pennies.
Talking to the media after enquiring about the health of the injured of the Chakwal suicide attack at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi on Sunday, he said that “the price of a suicide bomber is from Rs 0.5 million to Rs 1.5 million while the family of the bomber gets Rs 0.5 million”.
The rest here.
April 5th, 2009 at 6:20 pm