Junk leadership

The massacre of 148 people inside an army school in Peshawar seems to have spurred Pakistan leaders into action. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif dashed to Peshawar, Army Chief Raheel Sharif shortened his Quetta visit to proceed to the city and a conference of political leaders was called to discuss “strategy” how to cope with the menace of terrorism.
While the dead were taken to their last rites, hundreds of those injured are being treated in several hospitals.
Following the meeting, loads of announcements were made and heavily worded resolutions adopted vowing to defeat terrorism. But the question is, will such resolutions change the situation on the ground? Call me pessimistic, but I believe nothing will change. We have lost 50,000 civilians and security personnel in the past. If that hasn’t shaken our conscience, how this loss of 132 kids will make any tangible change, one may wonder.
Pakistan probably awaits a turning point that might change the course of history.
I say this because the meeting was attended by all those who have backed Taleban, logistically or financially; or have become apologists when it comes to taking action against them. These are the people who would call Taleban their brothers and their dead ‘martyrs.’ They had offered them to open offices in Peshawar to facilitate their activities and have openly asked these terror outfits to spare the Punjab province.
The meeting was attended by leaders who have recruited youth to fight in Kashmir and Afghanistan and have coined flawed terms as ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Taleban. Some of them have preached and justified ‘Qital fi Sabeel Allah’ (massacre in the name of God) in public meetings which were attended by thousands of their die-hard supporters. In the name of protracted peace negotiations early this year, these leaders have let them safely demobilize from North Waziristan.
They would cancel the launching ceremony of Malala’s autobiography, but would celebrate “I Am Not Malala” campaign condemning her struggle for girls’ education.
This is a junk leadership. You can’t expect anything good out of them. Regrettably I see Pakistan taking no concrete and concerted action to bring religious seminaries under the state control to oversee what’s being taught over there and who are funding them. Since the US-USSR war in Afghanistan, clergy in Pakistan has tasted power, and expanded its influence exponentially.
Pakistanis have to decide whether they want a moderate, liberal and enlightened state taking care of its subjects without any discrimination.
Masood Khan
Jubail