It is a defining moment in the country’s history, second only to the creation of Pakistan, because the state has responded seriously and earnestly to the call- and concern- of the society. Certainly, it is a rare moment in Pakistan’s history because the state machinery has started conducting itself in accordance with the exigencies and urgencies of the ordinary people instead of relying on indirect methods of evaluating the public opinion and priorities. Hitherto, the state machinery in Pakistan has very rarely conducted itself in this manner because there has remained a big disconnect between the leaders and the led even in the matter of serious grievances and deprivations. Even in grave circumstances such as the killing of around 50,000 innocent, non-combatant citizens and around 5,000 armed services’ personnel by the merciless terrorists, the respective governments have remained indecisive and thus inactive. Some faulty interpretations of our universally acknowledged faith of peace and tolerance also played a negative role in dividing the political leadership but that division as well as those faulty interpretations and misconceptions have now been totally rejected by the entire Pakistani citizenry. It is a victory of the society and the ordinary people of Pakistan that have been able to bring home the realisation at their leadership level that enough is enough, that now is the time for action and for bidding goodbye to unnecessary controversies and debates that had done no service to the homeland except emboldening the anti-state elements, their facilitators and the conspirators behind them. It is simultaneously a victory of the state of Pakistan, of the government of the day led by Mian Nawaz Sharif. And for sure it is a victory of overall political leadership barring a few self-centred leaders who are harping on a theme that doesn’t match the collective opinion of the people of Pakistan. The political leadership has at last realised what were the actual sufferings and state of terrorisation of the masses who had now lost all hope in the wake of too much of petitioning, debating and frequent expression of reservations that gave the impression as if certain quarters were still admiring the killers of innocent children and innocent Pakistanis, mainly Muslims i.e who professed the same faith which the barbarian perpetrators also claim to follow. And it is very much a victory of the armed forces whose high command, inspired by the clear-headedness of COAS General Raheel Sharif, has worked hard to clear myriad misconceptions and ‘reservations’ though some ‘reservations’ still remain, courtesy the over-spilling of a handful of leading lights’ own brands of wisdom and ideological interpretations, nay misinterpretations. The question is not that of passage of the 21st constitutional amendment bill or that of the amendment in the Army Act by both houses of Parliament for the purpose of speedy and foolproof elimination of terrorism and terrorists but that of the state responding to the society’s exigencies and emergencies. The undeniable fact that has come to the fore following the most tragic massacre of innocent Peshawar schoolchildren is that the people want a complete end to terrorism and are not willing to allow the authorities to show any laxity, whatever mechanism or modus operandi has to be adopted even if it requires big paradigm shifts in the existing administrative-cum-legal systems and processes. The mathematical constant or the fixed, immoveable destination in all circumstances is the elimination of even the last of the terrorists as claimed quite determinedly by COAS Shareef and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The other factors become variable as compared with this mathematical constant which enjoys the unanimous, unambiguous ownership of the people of Pakistan. Such difficult phases have come in the lifespan of the nations where controversies, debates and reservations have muddied the waters, albeit for once or twice as it happened when three pillars of the state came in direct confrontation with each other on the issue of slavery in the United States. One very important institution even decided in favour of slavery. Now who on earth will endorse or support slavery on the basis of any ideology, worldly or divine? The same principle applies to terrorism. Can any wise man, research scholar or any social scientist or opinion leader, whatever his school of thought, ideology or his own brand of wisdom, justify terrorism against innocent children and unarmed and harmless citizens who are being denied the right to live or to survive, what to talk of the right to freedom of any measure?
