An undefeatable enemy?

The writer is a freelance columnist and former newspaper editor.

We have heard about the new set of ‘heroes’ at the Bacha Khan University, the young men and women who were felled by bullets and their teacher who took up a pistol to defend them. As per the narrative being told, they and their parents who weep over their graves were not victims but warriors, citizens of a country who bravely fought militants.

It is uncertain just how much courage it takes to have bullets pumped into bodies while preparing to attend classes. These students, like the younger APS pupils mowed down just over a year ago, were after all not going to war. And we hear little about those who, sensibly enough, locked themselves in washrooms or stores in an attempt to escape death. There are few accounts too of the screams, the wails, the cries for help that rang out.

These may be a natural human reaction – but there are not perhaps seen as signs of bravery. For the same reasons there has been very little discussion about the degree of trauma suffered notably by the APS pupils. Officially, discussion on psychological support for these children has been limited. After all courageous soldiers – as they have been depicted as – should not need help to overcome the horrors they saw. The young boy from the Bacha Khan University, who according to his parents wakes up screaming each night, picturing the bodies of slain friends, does not quite fit into the imagery being painted.

Like the basic etchings young children are sometimes taught to make, by scribbling with black crayon over bright pictures they have drawn and then using a coin or other object to remove the top layer and produce the shining colours from beneath, we have built up the image of a nation that is fighting back darkness. We are told by our prime minister, by our army chief, by others that we are winning the war on terror; that soon we will be free of this menace. Mian Nawaz Sharif has told the world that the militants are now only hitting ‘soft targets’.

Apparently, this is a sign of success. Who knows what school, college, hospital, individual or other ‘soft target’ they will go after next. Blame has also been directed the way of other countries; and internally too, the army maintains that the resource-starved government must carry out development work to back its own military operations in the tribal areas and other parts of the country.

All this may not be untrue. But matters are far more complicated. We have to face up to the reality, and the reality is that the militants are gaining a firmer and firmer grip on us. They have entered the minds of millions, and groups like Islamic State which specialise in this are already present in our midst. We have had proof of this already in Karachi, where persons with links to the group were arrested in connection with the Safoora Chowk massacre of 43 Ismailis in May last year.

From Lahore, about 20 persons, many of them women with young children, attempted to leave via Quetta to link up with the IS in Syria – the new land for Muslims according to the increasing number who believe in what must be one of the most dangerous causes of our time. We have paid too little attention to combating the IS enemy.

And it is not an easy enemy to combat. Former US diplomats and intelligence officers speaking before the House Defence Committee at the US Congress have conceded just this, pointing out that the IS is now essentially a state: it has territory, a government, offers civil services to its people and pursues an ideology which is spreading rapidly. There is little doubt in our country that the radio broadcasts reportedly been made by the IS from Jalalabad in Afghanistan will soon filter across. They must have done so already, and who knows what else is reaching people through social media and other channels.

Clearly, the IS supporters in Karachi, in Lahore and in other cities were recruited through one means or the other. The group has focused a great deal of attention on this, even using US teen magazines and social media to lure in American teenagers. There have been several incidents in that country. In March last year, three teenagers, the youngest just 15, from a conventional but not extremist South Asian Muslim family attempted to flee to Syria after establishing contact with IS handlers over social media chat sites such as Kik. They were not successful.

It is thought US intelligence monitoring of sites such as Facebook may have led to these siblings – two boys and a girl – being put on a watch list. The eldest boy, 19, apprehended along with his brother and sister at the Chicago airport, now faces criminal charges. From Britain, others have been able to reach Syria, sometimes using funds drawn for educational purposes to do so. Women are being recruited to draw in other women and explain what life in Syria will be like. As always, the messages of those who specialise in recruiting and brainwashing others are convincing.

A Scottish woman who is widely known on Facebook, and other jihadists recognised by those seeking them by the black flag they use as their icon or display picture, are clearly doing an excellent job.

The question that arises is how to combat this. Experts in the US confess answers are different. The IS is essentially a cult, operating in some ways like the deranged ‘family’ led by mass killer Charles Manson who assembled at least 100 followers and in the 1960s carried out at least 35 killings involving immense brutality in the US including that of the popular actor Sharon Tate.

Manson was able to influence those who followed him to perform acts that defied both reason and humanity. He picked on loners, in need of support, and from the patterns of teenage recruitment being witnessed in the US, there is some suggestion that the IS may be moving in a similar direction.

The fact that Muslims, even those that oppose extremism, are a group facing increased discrimination and hate attacks in the US helps the IS cause. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is of course an example of quite what such bias can do.

At home, the IS problem goes beyond this. Apparently, even those with relatively moderate views seem to believe the IS is a force of good, battling the US and all that it stands for. When we talk of winning the war on terror, we must also consider whether we are winning against the IS, and the mindset which feeds its popularity. This mindset includes the huge proliferation we have had of religiosity in a form intended for open display.

We like to show that we are the holiest of people, even as crime grows and social injustice abounds. Something has gone very wrong indeed and from the look of things, it does not really seem we are triumphing against the militants or pushing them back in any way. This is the frightening reality. We have no choice but to wait for the next attack.

Email: kamilahyat@hotmail.com