Conflicting Narratives

Heart-wrenching scenes emerged from the vicious terrorist attack in Quetta on Monday. Trying to make sense of this brutal act, I have been appalled at the various sections of our society interpreting the situation to fit their respective flawed narratives. The uber-nationalists, strengthened by the premature claims of RAW’s involvement pinned the blame on India while attempting to absolve the law enforcement agencies of any responsibility. On the other end of the spectrum, perennial haters of the Army repeated their mantra of blaming the doctrine of “strategic depth” and the military operations in Baluchistan, while attempting to deny the activities and designs of any external actors. The truth lies somewhere in the middle and unless people responsible for shaping public opinion provide honest thought leadership, Pakistan will continue to be a hotchpotch of 200 million confused minds unable to unite in the face of terrorism. We need to ask the right questions from all the powerful segments of our ruling elite while being cognizant of the regional reality of proxy wars in Afghanistan, the dynamics of global terrorism in a post 9/11 world, and the involvement of multiple international intelligence agencies pursuing their respective national interests. Focusing only on any one or two these factors amounts to grave intellectual dishonesty.

It goes without saying that the segments of our society I mentioned above i.e. the uber-nationalists and the perennial army-bashers are not homogeneous groups that think and act together. Rather the purpose of this exercise is to broadly analyze these internally diverse yet somewhat distinctly identifiable groups and the flaws in their respective approaches within the context of the recent attack in Quetta.

Let’s start with the group I referred to as the “uber-nationalists”. Adherents of this ideology usually have the convoluted view that General Raheel Sharif is the savior of the nation and the lone warrior fighting against a hostile India, Afghanistan, and Iran and their proxy groups. The most zealous of this lot will add Israel and the United States in the mix and portray Pakistan as the victim of potential Balkanization. To them, Raheel Sharif’s extension, and severing of ties with India will go a long way to solve our problems. They hardly see any problems with Pakistan’s foreign policy and the Army’s outsized role in its formulation, the state’s reluctance to go after extremist groups like LeJ and the huge presence of the Army in the corporate realm.

On the other extreme, we have a group of politicians and so-called intellectuals who barely conceal their hatred for the Army, and blame it for most of Pakistan’s woes. This group blames the doctrine of “strategic depth” for troubles on the Afghan border conveniently forgetting that Afghanistan has a long history of not accepting the reality of the Durand Line. Afghan animosity against Pakistan goes way back and the Soviet war merely added a new dimension to Af-Pak relations. As far as the issue of the so-called military high-handedness in Baluchistan is concerned, I agree that extra-judicial killings should stop. However, it is important to keep in mind that the recent attack in Quetta barely has anything to do with this very important yet completely separate issue.

The perennial Army-haters blame Pakistan’s support (albeit tacit at this point) for the Kashmir cause for our strained relations with India. Until very recently they used to propagate that Pakistan should mind its own business implying either that Kashmiris are happy under Indian occupation or they detest Pakistan as much as they hate India. (The recent Burhan Wani episode and images of thousands of Kashmiris waving the green flag chanting slogans in Pakistan’s favor have hopefully opened their eyes. I personally believe Kashmiris should have all three choices in an internationally supervised plebiscite.) They go as far as equating the Kashmir issue with Baluchistan’s problems, depicting a classic case of either hypocrisy or ignorance. They ignore the facts that there are no UN resolutions calling for a plebiscite in Baluchistan and no Pakistani equivalent of Article 370 of the Indian constitution.

This group fashionably blames the Army for all of Pakistan’s problems. They turn a blind eye to RAW’s interference in Baluchistan and the very recent arrest of Indian spy Kulbhushan Yadav. They ignore the presence of several Indian consulates in Afghanistan. This group quickly blames the intelligence agencies for failing to stop a terrorist attack while never acknowledging the many potential attacks that are stopped by the same agencies. Have they forgotten that the 2009 Army operation in Swat is the only reason why Swat is under the jurisdiction of the federal and KPK governments and not Maulana Sufi Muhammad? They do not realize that post-APS attack it is the current civilian government that has failed to develop the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) into a functioning body. Uninterrupted civilian governments for the last 8 years have done nothing to depoliticize the police, and build the capacity of IB and the Special Branch. Eventually, there is only so much that military agencies and personnel can do. The abject failure of the police in Sindh and Punjab is manifest from Punjab Police’s struggles against Chottu Gang in South Punjab and the need for Sindh Rangers to conduct the Karachi operation. Did the Army stop the PPP from creating a viable police force in Sindh? The fact of the matter is that the Army is called in to help with everything ranging from flood relief to judicial proceedings against terrorists as well as operations against criminal gangs. The abject failure of civilian institutions creates the space for the military by default.

The latest darlings of the Army-bashing group: Molana Sherani and Molana Fazal-ur-Rehman, nefariously bashed the Army for making a distinction between good Taliban and bad Taliban. Hypocrisy, thy name is JUI. They conveniently forgot that JUI was the biggest Taliban sympathizer and considered Osama bin Laden a hero not too long ago. Interestingly enough, their latest views were widely shared on self-proclaimed “liberal” Pakistani social media pages i.e. the usual suspects for army-bashing. While the obsession of our establishment with “strategic depth” in Afghanistan is outdated, the view that Pakistan should unilaterally withdraw from all engagements in Afghanistan is also too simplistic. It is a well-documented fact that NDS is involved in terrorism in Pakistan and TTP hideouts in Afghanistan are repeatedly used to perpetrate barbaric attacks on Pakistani soil. To imagine a utopian Afghanistan where none of its neighbors have sympathizers (or proxies) is a pipe dream at best. Under current circumstances, opening another front by attacking Pakistan-leaning groups in Afghanistan would be a foolish strategy.

However, by no means am I making the case that the Army and its intelligence agencies are sacred cows who should not be questioned. The Army has lots of blame to take for our current predicament but so does the political class which blatantly engages in corruption, calls wolf at demands of being held accountable and uses the police to victimize political opponents. Whether we like it or not, the reality remains that the Army is the only functioning institution in Pakistan. Blaming it for failing to completely eradicate terrorism is unfair given the complexity of the problem coupled with the decay of the police, judiciary, and other civilian institutions. Let us be honest in our criticisms and set aside our biases for the greater good of the country and out of respect for the thousands of lives we have lost to terrorism so far. Let us engage in meaningful discussions with adherents of opposing beliefs and amplify voices of sanity, moderation and nuance. Faced with calamities like the Quetta attack, it is easy to have a knee-jerk reaction and express hopelessness in the future of our country. An honest reflection on our mistakes as a nation and an unwavering resolve to defeat extremism and terrorism are difficult yet vital to achieve clarity of purpose and eventually succeed in this war.