Monday, January 20, 2014
No policy to fight militancy
ANOTHER severe blow by the TTP against security forces has been delivered, then quickly followed up with a faux promise of entering into talks with the state. Meanwhile, the government prepares to unveil its much-touted internal security policy while still insisting that talks are very much the preferred option. And sections of the national political leadership issue perfunctory condemnations of the TTP while insisting that dialogue isn’t going anywhere because of the shortcomings and indecisiveness of the government. If that chain of events were offered up as the plot of a horror novel, it would be dismissed as too fantastical and unreal. Except, it is very much the reality of Pakistan today — and profoundly depressing.
Even the new twists to the plot offer little real hope. Reports of military attacks in the Mirali region of North Waziristan yesterday appear to be part of an emerging pattern: the military will hit back when attacked. The military has denied that yesterday’s events in the Mirali region are linked to the Bannu attack on its troops. However, if true, it would suggest less a well-thought-out, meaningful policy to push back against the militants and more a reactionary move that will achieve little. Even the details of the Bannu attack are fairly unsettling: if there is some sense to ferrying troops to North Waziristan in private, unmarked vehicles, why were the vehicles not searched thoroughly before the troops were allowed to board them? If such patently obvious operational details are overlooked in such a high-risk environment — it is difficult to imagine more at-risk troops than those headed to North Waziristan — then what does that say about the overall preparedness of the army?
Still, the fundamental problem remains one of policy confusion. Specifically, the PML-N government has simply not been able to articulate a coherent strategy to tamp down the militancy threat and the security establishment is unwilling to embrace a zero-tolerance, no-to-militancy-of-any-stripe policy. Until those two fundamentals change, there will be nothing meaningful that can be done to combat the terrorism threat. A national consensus that the TTP cannot be adjusted within the structures of the Pakistani state and society is achievable. That does not mean the military option is the automatic and only option. But the talks-first mantra has ceded too much ground to the TTP and allowed them to manipulate the national narrative and the state’s response to the TTP threat. Surely, the politicians pushing for dialogue must be aware of this by now and the PML-N’s stuttering attempts to initiate talks must have made the government aware of why the present course is unwise. But do they have the courage to pick the right course?
Rise in religious conflict
ONE could arguably posit that religious violence has been the defining characteristic of much conflict in the past few years. The after-effects of the Arab Spring, for instance, have unleashed ideological forces bent on drawing religious boundaries in blood to further their political agendas. A recent study conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 198 countries — covering a reported 99.5pc of the global population — looks at the issue of faith-based violence from various angles. The results show that religious hostilities increased across the world in 2012. While this may not be surprising because such conflicts cannot be seen in territorial isolation and usually depend on both external and internal triggers, the numbers are nevertheless disturbing. Of the countries included in the study, 33pc — including Pakistan — saw “high” or “very high” levels of internal religious strife, including sectarian violence, terrorism or bullying in 2012, compared to 29pc in 2011 and 20pc in 2010. As expected, the report shows that the Middle East and Africa have experienced the sharpest spike, while China is included in the “high” category for the first time. Among countries with “very high social hostilities based on religion”, Pakistan tops the table, as it did in the previous year. This does not appear far off the mark. As we are all too aware, sectarian killings occur in this country with horrific regularity, mosques belonging to various sects are bombed, and blasphemy accusations trigger bloody reprisals.
While the percentage of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of government restrictions on religion remained about the same as in 2011, there are several very populous countries among these, with the result that 76pc of the world’s population lives in countries with “high” or “very high” levels of restrictions on religion. Interestingly, in the report, the countries with the highest social hostilities involving religion (the number of these increased from 14 to 20 between 2011 and 2012) includes many categorised as having “very high” government restrictions on religion, suggesting that state-sanctioned discrimination of religious practice has a significant bearing on attitudes towards minorities that can take the form of violence. This causal link often finds expression in Pakistani society where religious affiliation can define the extent of one’s vulnerability to violence.
A thorough professional
ALONG with being a gentle, artistically inclined human being, Musadiq Sanwal will be remembered for ably guiding dawn.com, this newspaper’s internet edition, from its early days to the position the portal is at today. A BBC-trained web journalist, Mr Sanwal, who tragically succumbed to cancer on Friday, played a major role in helping bring the ethics and journalism this paper is known for into the new realm of digital media. A thorough professional dedicated to his craft, his experience and skills helped the portal overcome its teething problems. He was instrumental in bringing together dawn.com’s team, giving it shape, supervising the website’s content and design changes and helping the site evolve. Those familiar with his work recall that Mr Sanwal faced the formidable challenge of transforming the website from merely being a mirror of the newspaper into a distinct 24x7 multimedia news site that stayed true to the principles of Dawn, with aplomb. It was a proverbial passing of the baton as the traditional newsroom went digital. As a former Dawn editor commented, “his charm and demeanour allowed him to be a consensus-builder; his resilience, professionalism and knowledge of online platforms allowed him to chisel away at all obstacles, including some archaic notions about both content and technology, and deliver dawn.com in its present shape”.
Apart from work, Musadiq Sanwal was a man close to the arts, while his comrades from his student days recall a politically active young man who was at the forefront of many political agitations during the Ziaul Haq dictatorship at the National College of Arts, Lahore, his alma mater. A talented singer and theatre person with a penchant for activism, Mr Sanwal could be seen performing at musical events in Karachi, the city he spent the final years of this life in. Hailing originally from Multan, the city of saints, he was greatly fond of Sufi poetry and indigenous music. Musadiq Sanwal may have gone too soon, but his work and memory will live on.