Bamiyan
town in central Afghanistan is considered as one of the most
picturesque and beautiful place in Afghanistan. Even in first
millennium of our era, it was so breathtakingly beautiful that famous
Chinese monk- traveller Xuan Zang, describes Bamiyan in glowing words
in his travelogue written in seventh century. Another traveller has
mentioned that if heaven is to be ever found on Earth, it would be in
Bamiyan only.
The
calm and quiet tranquility of the affluent Bamiyan was destroyed for
the first time in 1272, when great conqueror Genghis Khan sent a
small army led by his grandson to capture Bamiyan. In the ensuing
battle, the grandson was hit by an arrow and died. After learning
about this, Genghis Khan got so angry that he sent his army to
Bamiyan with orders that no human or animal should survive the
onslaught. His soldiers, scared of his reprisal, if his orders were
not followed in toto, carried them out and every living being around
Bamiyan was mercilessly massacred. The signs and remnants of the
total ruin and destruction brought about are still visible in form of
some of the ruined forts.
I was
reminded of this historical act of utmost cruelty, as I watched on
TV, the horrible sequence of events that happened in the city of
Peshawar in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. There is however
one major difference between what happened in Peshawar yesterday,
when hundred and twelve innocent kids were brutally massacred with
what Genghis Khan did in thirteenth century. Genghis Khan's world was
a medieval world, where armies of brigands freely roamed around,
looting and killing people at their wish. Those were also the times
when armies of various kings regularly went around to conquer new
areas for attaching them to their kingdoms. Today in twenty first
century, the scenario is vastly different with well organised and law
abiding states ruling the land.
Unfortunately,
there are still pockets or regions, where the times do not seem to
have changed in last thousand years and armies of youth, obviously
brain washed by religious zealots, continue to terrorize innocent
populace. The only change that has taken place is that these
religious brigands now use AK 47 rifles instead of swords and Toyota
pick up vans instead of horses. So effective are these zealots that
they can pick up their brain washed youth from long distances and
lure them.
The
Peshawar tragedy is so horrifying and disturbing that I have no words
for it. In any case, most of the readers must have already read about
the unfortunate happening. Six terrorists armed to teeth, entered
into an army school complex, where number of schools, imparting
education to students of all ages, toddlers to highschoolers exist,
by climbing over the back wall. They had specific instructions to
kill the older boys and leave the toddlers alone. By the time they
finished their job and they blew themselves up, 112 children were
dead.
It is
natural for Indians to remember the Mumbai attacks of 26th
September 2008, in which 164 people were killed by Pakistan based
terrorist members of Lashkar-e-Taiba. This time the terrorists
belonging to Tehrik-i-Taliban have chosen to kill innocent kids, who
had nothing to do with any kind of violence. Tehrik-i-Taliban or
"Taliban Movement of Pakistan" is an umbrella organization
of various Islamist militant groups based in the northwestern
Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in
Pakistan. In December 2007, about 13 terrorist groups united under
the leadership of Baitullah Mehsud to form the Tehrik-i-Taliban
Pakistan. Their stated objectives are resistance against the
Pakistani state, enforcement of their interpretation of sharia and a
plan to unite against NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.
Tehrik-i-Taliban is not directly affiliated with the Afghan Taliban
movement led by Mullah Omar. Both groups differ greatly in their
histories, strategic goals and interests although both are
predominantly of Pashtun race.
In
June 2014, the Pakistani military launched an offensive against
Tehrik-i Taliban, killing more than 1,800 militants as well as an
unknown number of civilians in the group’s hideouts in North
Waziristan. Yesterday's massacre was supposed to have been carried
out as an act of revenge for the Pakistani offensive.
The
Pakistani army has announced that they will continue with the
offensive, but there are questions about, whether Pakistani army has
the capability and will to take meaningful action against what an
expert calls a spider web of terrorist groups spread throughout the
country.
Pakistan
needs to take up an all out offensive against terrorists, but this is
unlikely to happen, because Pakistani army also nurtures and
collaborates with terrorists to foment troubles in border regions of
India. Pakistan continues to have a selective attitude toward
terrorist groups within the country’s borders. On one hand Pakistan
is fighting against Tehrik-i-Taliban but on other hand it continues
to protect or turn a blind eye to organizations like Jamaat-ud-Dawa,
a frontal group for Lashkar-e-Taiba, the terror organization that
mounted the 2008 attack on Mumbai.
The
Mumbai attack master mind, Hafiz Saeed — who has a $10 million U.S.
government bounty on his head — staged a public rally recently in
Lahore, Pakistan, with no response from the Pakistani government.
Unless
Pakistan gives up its duplicity and selective attitude toward
terrorist groups within the country’s borders, it is unlikely to
achieve total victory against terrorists. This change is unlikely to
happen and there is always a possibility of similar horrendous events
happening even in future. This is the real tragedy of Pakistan.
Pakistan needs to remember that there are no good or bad terrorists,
any terrorist is only a scion of likes of Genghis Khan.
18th
December 2014
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