Today the world observes the centenary anniversary of birth of Albert Camus who was born on November 7, 1913 in French Algeria to a Pied-Noir (French Algerian) family. Died at the age of 46 in a car accident about three years before the signing of the Evian Accords that ended the Algerian War of Independence, this Nobel Prize-winning author, journalist and philosopher attracted malice and rebuke from both Left and Right for his stance on the deadly conflict: he always hoped for and advocated a moderate Algerian solution. The list of his detractors was indeed very long; and they included celebrated philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.
His centenary does bring to one's mind the plight of the Pakistani nation that is struggling, albeit meekly, to survive in a vortex of violence. Pakistanis, however, are clearly divided over a profoundly perplexing question of `state versus Taliban'. There are people who have no hesitation in describing these militants as brute terrorists and anti-state elements while there are others who are highly charitable in their opinions of Therik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). A considerable controversy evoked by the Jamaat-i-Islami chief over the killing of TTP commander Hakimullah Mehsud is a strong case in point.
Those who swing constantly between these two extremes, however, hope for a moderate solution. The question is: what actually constitutes a `moderate solution'? But before we try to articulate a 'moderate solution', it is imperative to recall how Camus looked at the Algerian conflict in 1958. He famously wrote that his aim was to "achieve the only acceptable future: a future in which France, wholeheartedly embracing its tradition of liberty, does justice to all the communities of Algeria without discrimination in favour of one or another."
Camus warned against the politics of reprisals and torture in the following words: "we must refuse to justify these methods on any grounds whosoever, including effectiveness. Once one begins to justify them, even indirectly, no rules or values remain". His message to Algerian freedom fighters was: "No matter what cause one defends, it will suffer permanent disgrace if one resorts to blind attacks on crowds of innocent people."
Camus was no admirer of a system of politics or principles based on practical rather than moral or ideological considerations. In one of his works, he noted with great disdain: "Every time I hear a political speech or I read those of our leaders, I am horrified at having, for years, heard nothing which sounds human. It is always the same words telling the same lies."
Writing in the New York Review of Books, noted American novelist Claire Messud builds up a solid argument on the `Algerian question' that Camus sought to address in an effective and meaningful manner. She passionately argues: "If France was Camus's father, Algeria was his mother; and for their adoring son, no divorce could be countenanced".
The same perhaps goes for the Pakistani people at this point in time: if the state is their mother, Taliban are their siblings who have gone astray; and Taliban, therefore, cannot be ostracised from the Pakistani society permanently. Hence, the need for a dialogue with them without any further loss of time.
The writer is newspaper's News Editor and Member of the American Economic Association (AEA)
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