Islam Bibi, mother of three sons has already lost her two sons to extremists and now searching for her third son who is under the custody of Pakistan Army. “My youngest son was only 12 years old when I lost my contact with her,” she said. She thanked Allah Almighty that her sons did not harm anybody. Because of the war in Swat she migrated to Peshawar in 2009 and again returned to her home town in 2010. She appealed to the authorities either to release her son or send him to rehabilitation centre.

Pakistan is at a crucial juncture of its history as it struggles to contain rising extremism, achieve political stability, and uphold the rule of law. Plagued by internal conflict, lagging economic development, and increasing violence the word ‘Pakistan’ has become synonymous with insecurity, lawlessness and terrorism and we have become a laughing stock among the comity of nations. Inflation is rife and there are no job creations. Higher Education Commission that once worked wonders and served as a role model for other regional countries to emulate has come to its knees due to unavailability of funds. The power shortage is at its worst and our GDP growth rate is lower than Nepal. The concept of ‘strategic depth’ has done more harm than good to us. Only recently Pakistani army, in one of its internal meeting admitted that country is more prone to internal than external threats. The people of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and FATA in particular have been the worst victims of extremism and terrorism and the consequences of this crisis have seriously undermined any effort to ensure long-term stability, prosperity, human rights and gender equality in the area.

Though people of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and FATA are known for their epic struggle against foreign masters, such lawlessness and terrorism has been unheard of in the modern history. The resistance in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa dates back to the era when the British came to Malakand and Buner; the British were taken as infidels and local tribes attacked them under the banner of Islam. British and Indian troops launched crackdown against the Pathan tribes of Swat, Bajaur and Buner. In 1897 the North West Frontier of India erupted in warfare as the tribes along the border attacked British garrisons and Indian villages; the reaction to this was a series of incursions by the British into tribal territory in 1897 and 1898. Numbers of Muslim mullahs in the independent tribal regions along the border of India preached ‘jihad’ against the British. The first incident in the series of uprisings was the action at Maizar in the Tochi Valley where on 10th June 1897 the inhabitants of a group of Madda Khel villages attacked a small British force.

Coming back to present day ugly reality, the recent wave of extremism has changed everything for people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa who wake up to unending bomb blasts, suicide attacks and incidents of indiscriminate firing every morning. The worst part is that now terrorist activities are taking their toll on the innocent minds of children of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as boys in a recent drawing competition drew scenes of post bomb blast destruction and rescue services and girls deliberately maimed dolls and portrayed them as victim of suicide blast. So many homes no longer have male members older than 13, and have thus lost their breadwinners in a culture where women are often unable to go out to earn a living. Their men have made ‘abode’ in ‘other world’ as they were told it was worth dying for a holy cause. Still there were some men who became target of suicide bombing and left their loved ones at the mercy of government authorities whose indifference towards plight of the public is unmatched.

An objective analysis of the horrendous situation depicts the fact that locals are also responsible for this sorry state; contrary to the perception that women are peace loving, they actually ended up heavily supporting Mullah Radio Fazaullah in Swat who wrote new history of barbarism and oppression.

Still, this is a sad reality that women from JUI, JI and other religious outfits are strongly opposed to the idea of gender equality. Seminaries are bastions of extremism and fifty percent of them are women seminaries. Alas extremism is being targeted at symptom level but no attempt is being made to go beyond that and find out its root causes.
In a splendid survey conducted by a Trust in Peshawar, Charsadda, Swat and Mohmand Agency on the subject of moderating extremism, bad governance, corruption and subjugation to foreign masters had been termed the root causes of trouble. The survey also revealed that foreign support of conservative religious institutions and the anti-Soviet mujahedeen had several unintended consequences in Pakistan including the propagation of radical ideologies and the influx of weapons into the region. Credible media sources reveal new groups that are hardliners and sectarian in nature are also being funded by Gulf States and Pakistan has actually become a battleground for Iran-Saudi Arabia hostility. The current wave of insurgency has played havoc with social fabric of society. This self-abnegated society has become object of obloquy because of its own set of choices.

Abstract solution to this problem may exist here and there but what we require is a durable and sustainable solution. Inordinate delay in providing justice gives way to wanton designs by the victims. Justice delayed is justice denied; every effort must be paid to provide cheap and rapid justice to litigants. Taliban shrewdly exploited this factor and rode on public sympathy wave as they provided quick and speedy justice to people in strife torn Swat valley. Then this concept of strategic Depth did more harm than good to Pakistan. It is time now that our LEAs and security establishment pay heed to internal threats especially in KPK, FATA and Balochistan rather than becoming India and Afghanistan centric.

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