Pakistanis are angry over the massacre of students and teachers of the army-run school in Peshawar. Those people, like many of our other countrymen across Pakistan, were killed in cold blood. The anger of the nation could be judged by the fact that we no longer care about the UN’s and EU’s call for restoration of the moratorium on capital punishment.

We are angry to the extent that all political forces have agreed, though few reluctantly, to establish military courts for speedy trials of terrorists. We hope that we continue with this iron resolve against terrorism. If one goes by the recent history of Pakistan, these sentiments are usually short-lived. People tend to forget such tragedies over time and move on with their lives. We hope it does not happen this time around and all political forces continue to work together against terrorism. The establishment of military courts may cause friction in the days to come.

It is, however, very important to wage an intellectual battle to confront the deviant ideology. Hanging these terrorists or sending them to jail is not likely to root out extremism. These brainwashed zombies are not afraid of death. In such a situation, a multi-pronged strategy should be hammered out to counter the ideology at all levels.

It is very important to take religious scholars and educationists onboard. There is a great need to educate people about the true teachings of Islam. We should devise a strategy to effectively counter the extremists’ propaganda.