Chaudhry Nisar’s mea culpa

In an enigmatic shift in our ongoing war against terror, the focus this week was on the security of our educational institutions. Sudden announcements about the closure of a number of schools until Monday, particularly in Punjab, prompted fear and apprehension that they could be the target of a terrorist attack. This confusion was bolstered by the announcement that Army Public Schools and Bahria Colleges would also be closed.

This amounted, in a sense, to a pall of fear descending upon major urban centres. And it has come about at a time when the campaign against terrorists and extremists was seen to have gained significant victories. It is true that the bloody encounter with terrorists at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda just over a week ago had shaken the country and revived memories of the Army Public School massacre of December 16, 2014. Still, this grave anxiety about the security of educational institutions across the country has raised some very disturbing questions.

It was against this backdrop that Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan emerged on the scene on Thursday after a conspicuous absence of some days. He thus had a lot of area to cover in his encounter with the media. He seemed visibly upset about the criticism that had been levelled against him by his political adversaries, with specific reference to the implementation of the National Action Plan. There is also this issue of his obvious unwillingness to act against the Lal Masjid cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz. Hence, some sparks did flow during his press talk.

But he made one very pertinent point that somewhat got lost in the media’s penchant for controversy and dispute. He said that while Pakistan is winning the war against terror militarily, it is losing the psychological war. This is certainly a candid and honest observation about the overall state of affairs. We are not winning the war that is to be fought in the minds of men.

Having made this admission, Chaudhry Nisar would need to give some serious thought to what this psychological war is all about and who exactly is required to lead this mission. It is in this respect that we must have a proper interpretation of the National Action Plan. Besides, the psychological war that is necessary to rid society of passions that nurture militancy and extremism would certainly put the likes of Maulana Abdul Aziz in the enemy territory.

One wonders if Chaudhry Nisar, who otherwise is a man of honour and dignity, has the capacity to understand and then confront this challenge. And I am referring to his political and ideological leanings that are well known – and not only in the context of Maulana Abdul Aziz. To be sure, this may be the problem with the entire ruling arrangement that exists now.

If we are losing the psychological war against terror, as the interior minister has wisely observed, who should be held responsible? Clearly, it is something that our civilian rulers have to confront and devise realistic strategies to change a mindset that has for so long been nourished by obscurantist and militant thoughts. The National Action Plan is relevant in this venture. But the way forward can hardly be charted by, say, an all-parties conference. A pursuit of consensus would also not help.

Here, in fact, is an opportunity to mobilise the enlightened sections of the intelligentsia of Pakistan and properly define the ideas that have to be summoned for a psychological war against terror. This war, obviously, will have to be fought on academic, cultural and moral frontiers. Education will have to be at the heart of this crusade – and this brings us back to the issue of the security of our schools and colleges. This also means that the terrorists, who have threatened to attack educational institutions, know how to wage their war. We do not.

As I said, the main points made by Chaudhry Nisar were overshadowed by other, peripheral matters. On Friday, the main headline in this newspaper was: ‘Nisar claims ‘deal’ between govt, leader of the opposition’. Another English daily was more direct: ‘Nisar turns his guns on PPP’. And one more: ‘Nisar accuses critics of supporting terrorists’.

So far as the crisis of the schools’ security is concerned, I found that some reports in the foreign media were more thoughtful and closer to the ground realities of Pakistan. The New York Times gave this heading to the Saba Imtiaz dispatch: ‘Pakistan school closings stir confusion, and fears of more attacks’. However, the comments made by scholars Tahir Andrabi and Asim Ijaz Khwaja in The Washington Post should serve as a wake-up call for our rulers.

This is how The Washington Post introduced the write-up: “This commentary by professors of Pamona College and the Harvard Kennedy School, who have long studied Pakistan, argues that the Taliban’s attacks on schools and colleges there are a particularly dangerous threat to that nation’s future”. This was the headline: ‘Education is becoming an extremist battleground in Pakistan’.

Ah, isn’t this a bit scary? In the first place, there is a hint of optimism in how Tahir Andrabi and Asim Khwaja look at recent developments in the field of education. Since they have been researching Pakistan’s education sector for almost 20 years, the hope that they detect in the growth of low-cost mainstream private schools should be credible. They have noted that there are now more girls in schools than ever before.

They raise this question: “Will Pakistani citizens – and parents – maintain their growing commitment to education in the face of Taliban brutality”? They have referred to surveys that find that parents of Pakistani students are progressive, forward-looking and don’t want religious indoctrination for their children. But violence can change it all and fear might compel them to withdraw their children from schools.

Let me quote the concluding paragraph, with its frightful ending: “Protecting more than 30 million children across thousands of locations is not something the security forces can accomplish by themselves or simply by targeting militant strongholds. Ordinary citizens must affirm by their beliefs, words and actions in everyday life that they recognise the danger that resides among them. Until they can actualise their own agency in protecting their children, the most progressive social current in the country will be lost – and with time, so might Pakistan itself”.

Here, then, are intimations of what is at stake. Pakistan’s survival depends on how we win our war against terror – militarily as well as psychologically.

The writer is a staff member.

Email: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com