Despite the unrelenting military operation and the civilian administration's best efforts, the wave of terrorism refuses to abate. Not a day passes when some ugly incident of terrorism - be it suicide-bombing, improvised explosive device (IED) explosion or disruption of energy supplies - does not take place.
The latest was two incidents including a suicide-bomber's attack on a police vehicle causing deaths and injuries in a Peshawar suburb on Monday morning. It appears that people live at the mercy of terrorists. Every time such an incident takes place, the concerned officials hold out the hope that the war on terrorism is making progress.
A senior police officer made the revelation that while the suicide-bomber had succeeded here yet thanks to heightened vigilance, scores of such other incidents had been averted. Of course his men must be actively pursuing terrorists, but his remark also spells out the enormity of the challenge of terrorism confronting the country.
Add to this the nightmarish situation abounding, with so many other evils like the nearly absent law and order, sectarian strife, kidnappings for ransom, extortion; particularly by sub-nationalist outfits, land mafias, unchecked corruption and unremitting politicking; one comes across the bitter reality of a total breakdown on all fronts.
The industrial sector is teetering on the verge of a collapse resulting in massive unemployment, which in turn, tends to breed hopelessness, which we see in the mounting incidents of suicide deaths and street crimes. Before it is too late and we arrive at the point of no return, the political leadership should put its ears to the ground and try to hear the murmur of the street.
As for the rulers specifically as to what they owe to the people, there is an old folk tale that bears repetition. It's about a king who prepares his son for the throne by sending him to the forest, repeatedly. 'At first, the sounds that the son can identify in the buzzing din are the roar of a lion and the cry of a wolf. Soon enough, he starts to pick up the less obvious sounds, from the rustle of a snake to the flap of a butterfly. But the king says his son's education won't be complete until he can hear the terror in the stillness of the night, and see hope in the sunrise. To be fit to be king, the prince must learn to hear what doesn't even make a sound.'
With the events as they unfold on a day-to-day basis, we find the writ of the government evaporating. In the process it is losing credibility and real-time contact with the people. But the opposition too seems to be interested more in joining the fray than to be part of a national attempt at evolving a national agenda. Such is the enormity of threat to national survival that should the current politicking, based on playing to the gallery, continue there is the danger of all of us going under. We believe the time has come that all parties should sit together and chalk out a national agenda. There is no other option in the present circumstances.