Enemies from within pose bigger danger

The martyrdom of Punjab Home Minister Colonel (Retired) Shuja Khanzada is a big loss to the country but at the same time it is a source of big encouragement and motivation for the armed militants whose main objective has always been “striking the terror in the hearts of the people” through effective symbolism which revolves around picking up of symbols of national strength or prominence and then hitting them surreptitiously and deceptively (bombers/killers attack in the garb of ‘gentle-looking’ visitors in gatherings that are comparatively open to all).
Yes, certainly “striking the terror in the hearts of the people” are one of the most cherished mission statements of terrorists that they usually utter repeatedly during training and brainwashing of their naive would-be operatives. And what else is more glorifying or self-glorifying for a radicalised human to be terrifying for the humanity? It gives them a sense of high-level superiority. Even the glory theories of thousand per cent ‘assured paradise’ are less glorifying than this feel of power/dominance over and above the harmless creatures (human victims of blasts and explosions).
As for the underlying idea behind the mass terrorisation of society, a number of tribal sources well known for three, four decades to this scribe, have disclosed that mass terrorisation of the society that is achieved by way of creation of a sense of mass insecurity and terror, is more ‘productive’ (for terrorists and their masterminds) than killing hundreds of thousands of people. According to these tribal sources who have studied the militants’ mentality, being in their close neighbourhood, the terrorists believe that by way of killing a few dozens or scores of important personalities, sectarian leaders, scholars and renowned figures especially the ‘symbols of strength like home minister etc., the ‘target of terror’ is achieved to a great extent as compared to the killing of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people through suicide bombings, remote control devices or IEDs or whatever.
In the case of Col. Khanzada’s martyrdom, the number of martyred ones is just a little above dozen persons but the terrorisation scale ranges close to hundreds of thousands of people who stand terrified.
But, under no circumstances, this tragic occurrence means that Operation Zarb-e-Azb has lost its effectiveness or is going unsatisfactorily. The soldiers are rather laying down their lives with the unflinching spirit of sacrifice and the government and many parties are also united on the conviction that enemies from within have to be terminated because these snakes in the grass are the main facilitators and operatives of those forces that want to turn the things stopsy-turvy inside Pakistani society for whatever reasons.
It’s about time we realised the reality that the dangers to the country are from within more than dangers from one or two foreign countries and their agencies. The solid fact must not be overlooked that no inimical agency of the world can operate so freely, frequently and at the spot of choice and against the personality of choice without facilitation from inside Pakistan. Then, unfortunately, a large number of our people, especially those hailing from some areas within the tribal and semi-tribal belt and in some parts of southern Punjab and southern Pakistan (meaning Karachi and Balochistan) possess the inherent tendency of dealing with others through gun. They subdue the people around them or those in business with them with the show- and use- of weaponry and flee to safe havens that have, however, squeezed in tribal belts following the Operation Zarb-e-Azb. Now these people have started taking refuge in ‘other parts’ of the country with the tacit- or sometimes open- support of people who mistake terrorists for Jihadists fighting a holy war which, in fact, is not at all a holy war but simply a madness-driven bloodbath unleashed by Muslims against Muslims. This is the most painful aspect of the whole terrorism saga that Muslims are eliminating Muslims just for no reason or rhyme. No religion allows the killing of any human being in this manner. A faithful has no moral, religious, social or legal right to kill any other human being, let alone faithful from any faith. If all owes to some conspiracy, regional, local or global, the conspirators are superb people (or outfits, if not institutions like RAW etc) that they have been successful in putting a wedge in the unity of people who stand committed to one faith. But these conspirators are less to blame than our own brethren who become their tools. Even strategically and for all practical purposes, little can be done (something can be done through counter-espionage and other similar acts but that won’t be too much advisable or frequently practicable) about foreign conspirators.
What is therefore needed is quick, sustained and failsafe action against the tools of conspirators that, unfortunately, are in abundance in our own country. They should be taken to task. But taking them to task requires national unity among all the national institutions and among all the segments and sections of society. All the people must rise to the occasion whether they are religious-minded or secular, whether they are leftists or rightists, whether they are superstitious or whether they belong to that class of simpletons who credulously trust the pious faces of beast elements. The biggest burden is on our legal tigers and media that have to come out of the confusion once for all that terrorists who are killing good humans for fun, glory or for ideological differences, have no fundamental rights that ought to be protected in any manner.
It must also become crystal-clear now to the people of Pakistan that all forces acting to the imperilment of Pakistani nation and armed services are inter-connected in one way or the other, some through the weapons’ sale-purchase deals and others through the ‘sympathy for one another’ equation or through ‘ideological identity’ perspective. It should not come as a surprise to anyone if some day it were found out that some militants posing to be true Muslims and Pakistanis are connected with and fully supported by RAW and some other formidable agencies of the world.