Former Governor Punjab Khalid Maqbool has said that all the areas in Pakistan are not the breeding place for extremist ideas, militancy and Taliban, except the few areas where these extremists are present. He was delivering a lecture on 'Terrorism and Talibanisation in Pakistan' organised by Quaid-e-Azam Political Science Society of Government College University (GCU) Lahore, on Tuesday.
"The nation has rejected the ideas of terrorists and militants. There was a time when the people, government and even the army were in the state of uncertainty about these militants. There were talks about peace through dialogues. But now, people of even the tribal areas are pointing out the hideouts of militants. Those who are silent are in state of fear".
Maqbool told the students how militancy groomed in Pakistan, when General Ziaul Haq took over. He also discussed the impacts of the Afghan war on Pakistan. "The religious parties government in NWFP from 2002 to 2007 proved somewhere helpful for militants to settle down in the area which had been traditionally out of the jurisdiction of the Pakistan government," he observed.
He, however, termed the overall situation of the region alarming. Pakistan has to define for itself its own course of path. We are surrounded by the countries that do not wish us well, he cautioned. We have to think that what would happen if the America fails in Afghanistan or if they leave the country in the state of anarchy or if India is chosen to be the main arbitrator in Afghanistan. He believed that the survival of Pakistan's nuclear capability is directly linked with how it comes out of the situation.
Speaking the occasion, vice-chancellor GCU Dr Khalid Aftab pointed that the tribal areas have a large army of unemployed youth. They don't have any hope. What militants did is that they equipped the ignorant youth with arms and provided them the biggest necessity of life which is food," he said. He laid stress on strengthening the education system of Pakistan and increasing job opportunities, for the youth.