The valiant struggle, waged by Benazir Bhutto, to counter the forces of terrorism, was revived by Tahira Qazi, Principal of Peshawar Army Public School on December 16, 2014, one of the most lamentable barbaric incidents occurred in our history. The terrorists of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) clad in the uniform of the Frontier Corps entered the school from the rear. They stormed the premises and held it in a nine-hour siege. They moved from classroom to classroom, killing innocent students and staff-nearly 150 lost life and many hundreds received serious injuries.
We all remember General Raheel Sharif, who assumed the charge of armed forces on 27 November 2013 and launched a much-delayed action in North Waziristan and elsewhere against the safe sanctuaries of militants. Operation Zarb-e-Azb ("Strike of the Prophet's Sword") started after failure of negotiations with militants and wanton attacks on army personnel. This operation continues even today under the incumbent Chief of the Army Staff (CoAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who took office on November 29, 2016.
It is a well-established fact that the terrorist networks get millions of dollars every year from various sources-using cover up entities. Militant groups in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere in the garb of "ideology" are engaged in criminal activities; from smuggling to kidnappings, narco trade to arms deals. Terrorism, like fascism is a self-destructive ideology. To fight terrorism, it is necessary to understand it. Wishful thinking about military might and invincible air-strike-power will not help to win the war against terrorists-they use religion to conceal their lust for money and social control, otherwise what is the justification for destroying educational institutions. Use of ill-directed force against a few groups without eliminating the main causes leading to "terrorism", is proving to be merely a self-defeating exercise.
Determined and practical efforts are needed to destroy their financial lifeline. The strategy to fight terrorism has ignored this most vital aspect and, therefore, the powerful States, like USA, with all their military might and economic resources, have failed to win the war started by them in 2001-they now desiring dialogue with the forces once called by them the enemies of humanity who take away innocent lives in the name of religion and faith.
The brave leader Benazir Bhutto, many men in uniform and civilians have given their lives for resisting the designs of those who support militants to wreck Pakistan providing them pretext to intervene physically in the name of safeguarding nuclear arsenals. Unfortunately, Benazir's own party later on betrayed her. General Pervez Musharraf, was aware of and tracking the many threats against Benazir but he "did little more than pass on those threats to her and to provincial authorities and were not proactive in neutralising them or ensuring that the security provided was commensurate to the threats".
Eleven years after the tragedy of losing Benazir, our rulers and agencies have failed to punish her assailants and forces behind the terrorism. Consequently, another great tragedy happened and our beloved children were also brutally martyred on 16 December 2014-the responsibility for this event collectively rests on State. It is high time that forces behind these and other incidents are brought to justice. We need to revive the legacy of resisting the forces engaged in New Great Game aims at controlling South Asian and Central Asian resources through the bogey of Islamic militants with the ultimate objective of containing China and undermining nuclear state of Pakistan.
(The writers, lawyers, researchers, law historians and authors of numerous books, are Adjunct Faculty at the Lahore University of Management Sciences)
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