Getting it right!
Worst fears of many of us in Pakistan and in the United States realized on May the 1st when a car full of explosives was found on Times Square in New York City. Much to the relief of many in the United States and Pakistan, the authorities got alerted timely and a major fiasco got averted.
Two narratives have emerged so far of what had happened. First narrative suggests that Faisal Shehzad, the accused, was a lone wolf, who as a result of a multitude of factors including economic depression, incitement by a radical cleric, and brainwashing by right-wing media of Pakistan, committed himself to blow-off infidels. Second narrative suggests that he was working in close collaboration with Pakistani Taliban and has been trained in the sanctuaries of North Waziristan.
The incident will put focus on Pakistan, its tribal areas, and the Pakistanis living in the West. A ghost, which we have been trying to part-kill, part-brush under the carpet, is facing us right into our face. To me, it is an opportunity for getting it right before some lunatic actually succeeds in his evil designs, killing westerners and in the process bringing us to a cycle of chaos which would lead to unimaginable destruction.
We have two paths to tread. Stick the course. Play the usual blame game and bury our head in the sand. We have crafted ample reasons to sooth ourselves. Faisal Shehzad was an American national, why should Pakistan be blamed? It is a CIA conspiracy to force Pakistan to do more. Faisal Shehzad was one individual, why should all Pakistanis be blamed for it. It is the US Media that is maligning our image. Our problem is of perception and of lack of PR. All convincing enough to sooth us with our conspiracy-centric thought process. Yet, none of them stands the test of logic and facts.
First things first, agreed Faisal Shehzad was a naturalized US citizen. Yet he was born and raised in Pakistan, in the house of the highest ranking military official (giving credence to the world's claims that the radical Islam has penetrated deep into the security establishment of Pakistan). More so, last I checked, there are no sanctuaries that train militants for preparing/detonating bombs in Arizona. Neither do American news networks justify the acts of people blowing themselves or their cars up to kill infidels for killings in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a problem rooted in our land. If Americans helped us create it in 1980s, they have abandoned it long ago. Only we kept glued to it, ensuring its spread. Using it as a foreign policy tool in Afghanistan, in Kashmir, in India and in Chechnya. Not only that, we brainwashed a whole generation, not only in Madrassahs, but also in the public schools, teaching them a bigoted version of Islamiyat and Pakistan Studies. There is no way, one can stop people questioning Pakistan for what Faisal Shehzad did. They have every reason to point fingers at us.
As for it being a CIA conspiracy, the whole rationale is absurd and can only come from someone as illogical as Gen. Hamid Gul. The theory goes that Americans arranged the whole thing to force Pakistan to launch an operation in the North Waziristan region. Now, is it not the same North Waziristan from where, according to us, the American and Indian prodigies are launching terrorist attacks against us? We should have moved their much earlier, in our interest. And why does CIA want its prodigies killed? Am I the only one who finds it absurd? Stop living a life delusional, my fellow countrymen.
That takes me to the last thing, the perception problem. I was at a talk at Harvard a year or so back. There Asad Umar, the CEO of Engro Pakistan, summed up the perception problem in a one-liner by saying, "if you do not like the perception, change the reality". The world, including us, works on perception and if ours is a problem of perception, we need to change it ourselves. Be damned Talat Husains, we need to change our perception by changing the reality for our own good. We need to be seen moving against the terror networks and radical militant groups. We need to look serious in our efforts to distance ourselves from any segments of Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. And we need to come out of the conspicuous mindset and xenophobia we live in. Living in US, I found Pakistanis to be the most isolated community, living in their silos, rarely intermingling with other communities, specially the non-Muslim ones. It is another Britain in making.
We need to wake up to the reality that we have a problem inside. Our society, out state, our values and ourselves need undergo a serious restructuring. We have become the exporters of terrorism to the whole world. No one ever said that a Palestinian blew himself up in an American city. No blame has ever been fallen on Iran for training terrorists on its soil yet (despite the animosity between the US and Iran). Rather than seeking the convenient route of, everyone is after us and conspiring against us, the issue needs a serious consideration. We need to start the task of undoing the brainwashing that took place for last 30 years. It is going to be a hard and painful process, but somewhere a first step needs be taken. We need to look for ways to be part of the modern world rather than detesting it and be mere spoilers. The world is moving, as it has always been, be with it or be left out.
Two narratives have emerged so far of what had happened. First narrative suggests that Faisal Shehzad, the accused, was a lone wolf, who as a result of a multitude of factors including economic depression, incitement by a radical cleric, and brainwashing by right-wing media of Pakistan, committed himself to blow-off infidels. Second narrative suggests that he was working in close collaboration with Pakistani Taliban and has been trained in the sanctuaries of North Waziristan.
The incident will put focus on Pakistan, its tribal areas, and the Pakistanis living in the West. A ghost, which we have been trying to part-kill, part-brush under the carpet, is facing us right into our face. To me, it is an opportunity for getting it right before some lunatic actually succeeds in his evil designs, killing westerners and in the process bringing us to a cycle of chaos which would lead to unimaginable destruction.
We have two paths to tread. Stick the course. Play the usual blame game and bury our head in the sand. We have crafted ample reasons to sooth ourselves. Faisal Shehzad was an American national, why should Pakistan be blamed? It is a CIA conspiracy to force Pakistan to do more. Faisal Shehzad was one individual, why should all Pakistanis be blamed for it. It is the US Media that is maligning our image. Our problem is of perception and of lack of PR. All convincing enough to sooth us with our conspiracy-centric thought process. Yet, none of them stands the test of logic and facts.
First things first, agreed Faisal Shehzad was a naturalized US citizen. Yet he was born and raised in Pakistan, in the house of the highest ranking military official (giving credence to the world's claims that the radical Islam has penetrated deep into the security establishment of Pakistan). More so, last I checked, there are no sanctuaries that train militants for preparing/detonating bombs in Arizona. Neither do American news networks justify the acts of people blowing themselves or their cars up to kill infidels for killings in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a problem rooted in our land. If Americans helped us create it in 1980s, they have abandoned it long ago. Only we kept glued to it, ensuring its spread. Using it as a foreign policy tool in Afghanistan, in Kashmir, in India and in Chechnya. Not only that, we brainwashed a whole generation, not only in Madrassahs, but also in the public schools, teaching them a bigoted version of Islamiyat and Pakistan Studies. There is no way, one can stop people questioning Pakistan for what Faisal Shehzad did. They have every reason to point fingers at us.
As for it being a CIA conspiracy, the whole rationale is absurd and can only come from someone as illogical as Gen. Hamid Gul. The theory goes that Americans arranged the whole thing to force Pakistan to launch an operation in the North Waziristan region. Now, is it not the same North Waziristan from where, according to us, the American and Indian prodigies are launching terrorist attacks against us? We should have moved their much earlier, in our interest. And why does CIA want its prodigies killed? Am I the only one who finds it absurd? Stop living a life delusional, my fellow countrymen.
That takes me to the last thing, the perception problem. I was at a talk at Harvard a year or so back. There Asad Umar, the CEO of Engro Pakistan, summed up the perception problem in a one-liner by saying, "if you do not like the perception, change the reality". The world, including us, works on perception and if ours is a problem of perception, we need to change it ourselves. Be damned Talat Husains, we need to change our perception by changing the reality for our own good. We need to be seen moving against the terror networks and radical militant groups. We need to look serious in our efforts to distance ourselves from any segments of Afghan or Pakistani Taliban. And we need to come out of the conspicuous mindset and xenophobia we live in. Living in US, I found Pakistanis to be the most isolated community, living in their silos, rarely intermingling with other communities, specially the non-Muslim ones. It is another Britain in making.
We need to wake up to the reality that we have a problem inside. Our society, out state, our values and ourselves need undergo a serious restructuring. We have become the exporters of terrorism to the whole world. No one ever said that a Palestinian blew himself up in an American city. No blame has ever been fallen on Iran for training terrorists on its soil yet (despite the animosity between the US and Iran). Rather than seeking the convenient route of, everyone is after us and conspiring against us, the issue needs a serious consideration. We need to start the task of undoing the brainwashing that took place for last 30 years. It is going to be a hard and painful process, but somewhere a first step needs be taken. We need to look for ways to be part of the modern world rather than detesting it and be mere spoilers. The world is moving, as it has always been, be with it or be left out.
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