Karachi Chronicle: Difference between reactions and reflections

The shockwaves caused by a monstrous suicide attack on Christians last Sunday have been felt wider. The shock was registered in the usual way: through angry statements, protest marches, acts of tyre-burning, a bit of arson, candlelight vigils, days of mourning and people wearing black arms bands to express sympathy and empathy with the bereaved and sorrow for the dead, some of whom had no surviving member of their family to mourn deaths.

However, there is a marked difference between how Christians reacted and how Muslims responded to similar attacks on them and their places of worship. For the few hours following the attack Christians in Peshawar acted violently against police and the staff of Lady Reading Hospital, smashing hospital furniture and equipment. By evening they had calmed down not only in Peshawar but elsewhere in the country.

This happened on the call for restraint by a handful of bishops and priests. The Christian community heard and obeyed. Herein is a clue to why Muslims turn uncontrollably violent in similar situations. The calls for peace and restraint go largely unheard and the country, or city or town suffering a dastardly attack of terrorists suffers still more, economically through strikes and tragically through loss of more lives in rioting followed by days of increased lawlessness.

The clue is that we do not have the kind of leadership that sincerely and seriously calls for restraint. It increasingly appears that terrorism is condoned in a way.

Furthermore, some of our leaders have become stout defenders of militants through their speeches, sermons, talks, etc. Public anger expressed on the streets in case of attack is not a reaction to terrorist attack actually, but to the profound inability of state machinery to forestall such tragedies. It is a matter of serious concern that the government always talks about beefing security, but it never does anything concrete with a view to sending a strong message across that it is no longer sympathetic to those who foment violence and promote anarchy. You wonder why the terrorists always succeed. It is because they know they have a plenty of tacit support among the 17 million People of Pakistan.

In Pakistan there is no policy to rid the country of militant attitude of a large number of people, particularly Muslims. It is the first step towards peace in the country. Take a page from the history of Europe. Till such time as their preachers and leaders promoted anti-Semitism, there were violent attacks on the Jews, ending in the worst atrocities committed against them by the Nazis in the World War II. Europeans realized they were all at fault in not suppressing anti-Semitism. Do you think Hitler could have committed those atrocities without tacit acquiescence of the German public? As a policy, now, any anti-Semitic talk, literature or movement is suppressed. Hatred of Jews has not ended in Europe, but it is no longer condoned nor is it anymore a European attitude.

There has to be a policy to suppress militant attitude. There should be no sermons, talks or movements which claim to promote militancy.

As for the current reaction of the KP and Islamabad government to the tragedy in Peshawar, they are still talking about talks with the Taliban. When will they realize they speak a different language? They want to use words, the Taliban answer with bombs, grenades and bullets. Of course, the solution is not an outright war against militants. But it does not necessarily mean that there should be no military action at all. It should be initiated wherever it is needed but with a lot of calculation and caution. But most of all there is a need to clean up terrorist strongholds and safe havens in the country.

In Karachi, at present, there is a Police-Ranger action against troublemakers. But not once have they looked into a particular neighbourhood dominated by a particular ethnic community. Why?