If democracy truly is the nemesis of talibanisation then certainly it is the PML(N) that will have to play the leading role in Punjab to wrest back the initiative from the monsters who have been plaguing the material and human wellbeing of what was once the most stable and vibrant province of Pakistan.

This is how terrorists operate: They identify a region where they feel they can bag sympathy for their cause and then try to construct ‘offices’ there. However, if they feel this sympathy is not enough to stop the government’s action against them, they terrorise the people with attacks. They know that this is the region that can capitulate in the face of terror faster than a place that does not hold sympathy for them.

Let’s face it, Punjab, like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been influenced the most by Islamist and sectarian organisations, with all that hoopla about justice, sharia and war against American imperialism. Over the years most of these organisations have found sympathetic ears and hearts in major Punjab and Pakhtunkhwa towns and cities, so much so that Punjab’s leading political party, the PML(N), sometimes sounds ambiguous about its stand on extremism.

Perhaps it fears that it may lose support from its more conservative constituencies, mainly centred round lower-middle and middle class sections. In spite of Lahore becoming the target of vicious terrorist attacks, we can still see and hear certain Punjab-based politicians and their supporters continue to dish out their deluded ‘Pakistan is fighting America’s war’ mantra and suggesting that ‘We should hold a dialogue with the extremists’.

Read more >> Dawn

Like Loading...

Related