The monster of extremism

Extremism and terrorism are playing havocs with our national security, political stability and socio-economic prosperity. This major issue provides a fertile breeding ground to many other problems. It creates uncertainty, promotes scepticism and replaces love with hatred.

Extremism in society also undermines our core values, social cohesion apart from radicalising our youth’s minds. But unfortunately we seem to have miserably failed to contain and eradicate this multi-dimensional problem. The reasons are manifold.

First, being the root of most of the problems we face, extremism needs to be prioritized and addressed on a war footing. Unfortunately, our political leadership lacks the will and insight to address the issue on a priority basis. Unlike infrastructure and energy projects, extremism is considered an ordinary problem.

Second, being a national security challenge, extremism needs political unity, social consensus and firm resolve on the part of our political parties. But instead of taking up a joint effort, political parties are busy using it for political leverage and point-scoring. Their policies are shaped either by greed and fear or by regional, sectarian and linguistic considerations. Their political stance changes as soon as the status of a party changes from opposition to treasury and vice versa.

Elsewhere in the world, political parties stand together on issues of national security. Though staunch political rivals, yet Democrats and Republicans in the US or Labour and Conservatives in the UK stand on the same page on the issue of terrorism. Unfortunately, this much-needed unity is missing among our political parties.

Third, civil and military minds, in spite of claims, are also not on the same page regarding the issue of extremism. Publicly, they pretend to be on the same page, but in private, they usually complain about each other. They have sharp differences over tactical, operational and policy-level issues. Each side celebrates success but spares no time in passing the buck of failures to the other side. Institutional politics, interests and the lack of cooperation thus harm the national drive to contain extremism.

Fourth, the issue of terrorism is complex and has different aspects; ideological, social, economic, political and strategic. But due to the lack of a holistic approach and proper understanding, confusion is being spread everywhere. Some consider terrorism a religious conflict while others believe it to be a war among intelligence agencies. To some it is political rivalry while to others it is an economic tug of war. A few brand it as a sectarian clash and to a few others it seems to be a great conspiracy against some ethnic groups.

I devoted a major share of my journalistic life and spent most of the time in reporting and analysing terrorism, yet even I could not comprehend it well enough. Today one aspect is the dominant factor, tomorrow it could be another one and so on. The policies and approaches of the political elites including Nawaz Sharif, Asif Ali Zardari and Imran Khan glaringly show their lack of understanding of the problem.

Fifth, terrorism is a national issue and no part of the country could be spared its impact, yet we treat it as a problem of a specific region or ethnic community, say Fata, Balochistan or Karachi and hence think that the people of these areas should deal with it. This lack of common ownership and sense of collective responsibility is a major hurdle in countering extremism.

Sixth, instead of treating on merit, the problem of terrorism is being looked at looking at voting patterns and ratings by politicians and the media. Terrorism is the number one issue for Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. But since their combine seats in the National Assembly are less than those of Punjab’s alone their main issue has failed to become the number one issue on the agenda of the ruling elites.

Similarly, garnering less ratings, the problem has also failed to get the required coverage by the media. The miserable plight of more than one million IDPs of North Waziristan could not get as much media attention as was given to the late Qandeel Baloch.

Seventh, scarcity of the truth paves the way for the rise of conspiracy theories, baseless speculations and fallacious arguments. Instead of waiting for investigation reports after a terror attack, politicians and journalists jump on the speculations bandwagon either to please one or offend another. Speaking the truth about the problem of terrorism and extremism can make you a traitor for some or an infidel for the other. It is a common observation that those who know cannot speak and those who speak do not know.

Last but not the least, we seem busy trimming the branches, while under the illusion of uprooting the dangerous thorny tree of extremism. The issue has deep social, ideological, strategic, diplomatic, economic and political roots. Military operations and military courts could give temporary solace but not permanent salvation. Until we focus on root causes, the monster of extremism will surface again and again in one form or another and in one place or in another.

The writer works for Geo TV.

Email: saleem.safi@janggroup.com.pk