Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
Sometimes I prefer to respond to condescension with disdain. Sorry, couldn't help myself.
I keep having to make this point. One side has the intent to kill civilians, and admits it, the other does not.
How do you like people to respond to your rudeness, which you later try to justify as joking around ?
Maybe others are also joking around and jesting.
Why the double standards ?
Give others the same courtesy/benefit of doubt you afford yourself.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
I can understand the frustration and hurt due to civilians being killed by drones. As a pacifist, I am against use of drones and was from the beginning. I was against the Iraq war. Let me put it this way, I cant think of any war I have been in favor of last 50 yeras.
Med I believe was making the point drones have killed far less lives than terrorists. In general I believe Med has shown he is a pacifist.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
Okay, thanks Southie. I'll keep an open mind.
However, let me qualify pacifist by adding - one that recommends hell-fire missiles that obliterate innocent bystanders, but pacifist nonetheless.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
What happened to Malala is tragic and reprehensible but why is the media not giving the same importance to the other 2 girls and teacher wounded in the same attack. Why aren’t they getting same publicity as Malala. Are they not human-beings? Does anyone even know their names? are they getting same medical help?
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
I like IK but I always have and always will oppose his confused stance on Taliban.
I have mixed feelings about drones because many civilians are killed in collateral damage like below
but then one should remember that it was a drone strike that killed militant Baitullah Mehsud (confirmed by Taliban themselves) and many other Taliban cowards
One could be against drone strikes but one should also have the decency and commonsense to condemn Taliban atrocities (and there are many). Sadly neither Imran nor our religious scholars or leaders have the courage to do that
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
You might not agree with everything but some valid points made by this poster on another forum
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
fully agree with you. I was kinda disappointed to see no updates on these two girls, Shazia and Kainat.
however, i did read somewhere that President has ordered best treatment for them as well. but it was really sad to see how media kinda ignored these two brave girls.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
good news, Malala’s friend Kainat who was also injured, has now recovered Alhumdulilah.
Kainat: Malala’s mission will carry on
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
I hope the country and its rulers won’t let these brave girls down. May their dreams come true.
Friends of Pakistani girl shot by Taliban vow ‘never to be subdued by militants’ - Telegraph
IF THE Pakistani Taliban thought they could silence their critics and stop girls going to school with the attempted murder of a 14-year-old, then they reckoned without the angry defiance of her teenage friends.
Malala Yousafzai still lies in a coma as military surgeons watch over her.
The school she attended in the former Taliban stronghold of the Swat Valley has remained shut since she was shot in the neck and head by assassins on Tuesday.
**But that did not stop about 100 of her schoolmates assembling on Friday morning to pray for her safety. Some cried, while others described a role model, a girl who had blogged about Taliban brutality when even the government was prepared to turn a blind eye. **
It is not safe to reveal their names.** But one teenager, who is in the year above Malala at school, said the Pakistani Taliban – which is engaged in a campaign to burn, bulldoze or bomb girls’ schools - could not destroy their dreams of becoming doctors, lawyers and professors**
“**We will never be subdued by the militants and their acts,” **she said, clutching her headscarf in the modern, airy classroom where they had gathered. **"Islam gives us the right to education and we will fight for our rights. We will never ever give up our mission. **
“**This land needs us and we can only help Pakistan if we can complete our education.” **
The attempted assassination of a schoolgirl by fundamentalist thugs has horrified Pakistan, a country hardened to senseless violence after years of suicide attacks, sectarian shootings and political murders.
Campaigners hope it will force the country to reassess its long-standing tolerance of extremists. And the military has hinted that it may finally launch a long-promised offensive against militant safe havens in North Waziristan, along the border with Afghanistan.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
salute to these brave girls!:k:
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
**We are not Malala
**
***"It can either be Malala’s Pakistan or TTP’s Pakistan, it cannot be both. This should not be a choice. A Pakistan without Malala and her other fellow girls fighting for education will not be worth living in. "
**
**
I think about it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong …” said Malala Yousufzai about a possible attack from the Taliban.** They have come to kill you and hopefully, have failed — **however, my child, there are still people amongst us who cannot tell them, “what they are trying to do is wrong”.
**
This one clear-eyed statement of Malala represents the gold standard and tells us all that we need to know about opposing these barbarians. One would have thought it was not humanely possible to defend or make excuses for an attempt of murder on a child; however, it always turns out to be a mistake to underestimate bigotry.
Many of those who have condemned did not have the spine to directly name the TTP, who have themselves claimed responsibility and have expressed their criminal desire of repeating the act.The aftermath of the attack saw the usual clichés, one of which is, “We are all Malala”. No, we are not.
**Had all of us or even most of been Malala, these medieval thugs could not have attacked her. Had enough of us been Malala, nobody would have dared to make excuses for this murderous assault. **By all means, feel terrible about us not being Malala but also feel worse and angry that the one who was Malala is now fighting for her life because of our failure to protect her. Also, assume the liberty of shaming with contempt and rage anyone who tries to make an excuse for this.
I do not want to play politics today. However, let me say this: Malala, Kainat and Shazia were not attacked because of drone attacks or US foreign policy. They were attacked because we have in our midst an enemy who is terrified of girls being educated, terrified enough to kill them. Independent brave girls scare them more than drones or army operations. Misogyny is inevitably one of the first manifestations of a tyrannical mindset. It is not a coincidence that these fanatics and their apologists are at their most aggressive and bigoted when launching crusades against Aasia Bibi, Rimsha and Malala. Similarly, it is not a coincidence that the most courageous legislators and activists in our country are women.
Today, when I hear people saying that they are afraid of condemning the TTP by name because they fear for themselves, I think of Shaheed Benazir Bhutto. And her unequivocal resolve to fight this bigotry. And her press conference immediately after the Karsaaz blast with the knowledge that these brutes are out there to kill her. Shaheed BB was Malala, she did tell them what they are trying to do is wrong and they did kill her. What Habib Jalib wrote about BB, is also about Malala, **“Dartay kyun hain bandooqon walay aik nehati larki say” (‘Why are those with guns so afraid of one unarmed girl?”).
**
So when somebody tells us about self-preservation and realpolitik in not naming these murderers, they should keep in mind we already have a standard and precedent of courage set by Malala and BB. **We could not save BB, we have to save Malala. Anyone who wants to run this country should be and would be weighed on the standard set by a brave and honest 14-year-old girl. At the present time, those who cry the hoarsest about their own courage are falling considerably short of that standard.
**
A good thing coming out of this episode is the emergence of challenge to our society in the most overt and naked form. There are those who are trying to inject complexity into the debate and some of them unwittingly are becoming apologists for this mindset of murder and blowing up girls’ schools. Yet, there remains very little room for complexity. **It can either be Malala’s Pakistan or TTP’s Pakistan, it cannot be both. ****This should not be a choice. A Pakistan without Malala and her other fellow girls fighting for education will not be worth living in.
**
I know binaries are supposed to be lazy and not nuanced enough, however, a 14-year-old child is shot in the head for “promoting secularism”. There is no provision for nuance. One has to set one’s face against this and summon all resources to fight. The debate on drone attacks can and should continue. However it has no bearing on our responsibility to fight these medievalists. They should be fought and eliminated — not negotiated with or mollycoddled. Firstly, negotiation is not possible. Secondly, and more importantly, negotiation with them is immoral. An attack on our children is as direct and frontal as an assault can be. This is not a question of politics; it has become a question of survival. The fight should begin by naming the enemy loud and clear, i.e., the TTP and their ideology of hate.
It is of some consolation to see the army chief condemning the assassination attempt on Malala. However, mere condemnation is not enough. The Pakistan Army has to stop the policy of considering the terrorist, any faction or network as “strategic assets”. The mindset has to be fought and fought as a whole and conclusively. It is now a choice between our children and these “strategic assets”. The Pakistan Army has, the over the past three decades, contributed to this ideology of jihad. For this reason, it also has the additional responsibility of erasing this misdeed and fighting these monsters.
George Orwell, writing about a young soldier of the Spanish War, wrote: “But the thing I saw in your face, No Power can disinherit; No Bomb that ever burst; Shatters the Crystal Spirit.” To understand Orwell’s words, have a look at the face of that child and the sparkle and resolve in her eyes. **We are not Malala, but we should be, we can try. Let us hope Malala lives long enough to see her Pakistan.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
most of the people of the country oppose drone strikes and operations in FATA, the same people should condemn the Suicide attacks and their perpetrators. No justification should be given for terror strikes within the country, as there is none.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
Your joking right?!?!? I expect this nonsense from some of the people in Pak, exposed to the toxic mind numbing propaganda of the establishment religio/political ideology, but I thought the fresh air your brain would have gotten outside of Pak might have allowed some logic to creep in.
Psyah, you are an intelligent person. Why do you not see the obvious??!?!?!?
There is no phantom here, everything is clearly before your eyes. There is no shadow, they are out in the open. For god sakes man, wake, they are CLAIMING this attack! What self induced hypnotic stupor are you people in!
The Taliban exist because they use criminal activity to support and finance themselves, along with donations from sympathizers, particularly in certain rich arab countries. Guerilla warfare can supplement itself the same way it does around the world. There is no mystery here. The only assistance they receive from the Pakistani state is state apathy. The media does NOT spin anything. If they do anything its exactly what your doing, equivocating, making excuses, concocting absurd conspiracy theories, playing apologist, hypocritically attacking one side will ignoring the obvious crimes of other.
The problem with your whole conspiracy is that it is without proof, not a shred. Just a bizarre concoction to protect that part of your brain that has convinced itself that Muslims are ALWAYS good, Americans ALWAYS bad, Govt bad, from being exposed to the hard reality that the Taliban ARE animals, they call themselves Muslims, and they murder children and anyone else the deem as unIslamic, and it has nothing to do with any govt conspiracy.
Who shoots children in the head? CRIMINALS, the Taliban! The guys that took credit for it!
I wouldnt need to do anything, because THEY ARENT the same people!
My god , even the TALIBAN are beating their heads against the wall thinking “WHO do we have to F- around here to convince these people its us!” 
Who are these “THEY and THEM” by the way, do you see them right now?!?! 
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
most of the people of the country oppose drone strikes and operations in FATA, the same people should condemn the Suicide attacks and their perpetrators. No justification should be given for terror strikes within the country, as there is none.
I never heard or saw anybody celebrate suicide attacks and tout the perpetrators, their handlers and their sponsors as heroes or something. I have always heard the condemnation "Inn jaanwaron ka baira gharaq ho. Kab jaan chorain gay yeh hamaari.".
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
Because the actual target was Malala, not the teacher or other girls, because the other girls were not the ones to begin speaking to the outside world and defying the Taliban and their edicts, and Malala was the one the Taliban said they were after, and she was the one hurt the worst because of it.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
I can understand the frustration and hurt due to civilians being killed by drones. As a pacifist, I am against use of drones and was from the beginning. I was against the Iraq war. Let me put it this way, I cant think of any war I have been in favor of last 50 yeras.
Med I believe was making the point drones have killed far less lives than terrorists. In general I believe Med has shown he is a pacifist.
I thin the pragmatic approach to this issue is not the popular one. Pragmatism is a cold calculation. The pragmatic approach is straight foward, the govt isnt protecting the citizenry, the Taliban have declared war, the drones are the only things that are killing them, in the long run, more lives will be saved then will have been lost for fighting them drone or no.
Such an approach isnt popular, but its the reality of the situation.
If the Pak govt and Army took responsibility, and managed to clear the area of terrorists, then there no longer remains any justification for drones. The anger of these people who against drone strikes is completely misplaced. Its not the drones, or the US, its the Taliban and the criminal neglect of the Pakistani state in defending her citizens.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
I never heard or saw anybody celebrate suicide attacks and tout the perpetrators, their handlers and their sponsors as heroes or something. I have always heard the condemnation "Inn jaanwaron ka baira gharaq ho. Kab jaan chorain gay yeh hamaari.".
I agree but the justifications are also there, because of American war blah blah, there's no justification for a terror attack, doesn't matter if it's through US drone or a suicide bomber. You can see the same confused statements have started appearing in malala case as well.
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
How insensitive! nearly 5,000 soldiers dead so far.
We have tried both drones and coventional war (Even the soviets found it hard going because of the difficult terrain). Apart from causing collateral damage, drones have limited value as a weapon imo as terrorists escape from one tribal area to another. Drone strikes might kill a few prominent terrorists every now and then but won’t eradicate the problem
Nothing short of carpet bombing or nuking the whole area w’d get rid of each and every terrorist (even then it’s a big IF)
And is the US doing it’s bit on their side of the border? How come guys like Fazlullah are operating/hiding right under their nose?
Taliban want to impose medieval system in Pakistan: Economist - thenews.com.pk
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
Courting savages - Babar Sattar
Courting savages - Babar Sattar
Legal eye
The writer is a lawyer based in Islamabad.
It often takes an egregious event for us to be shaken out of our slumber and see things clearly for what they are. Salmaan Taseer spoke up against the abuse of the blasphemy law and our religious bigots branded him a heretic and even celebrated his murderer. It took the persecution of the 14-year old Rimsha Masih, and a vile prayer leader attempting to frame her, for people to gather the courage once again to speak of the flaws in our blasphemy law. Likewise, it has taken an abhorrent attack on another 14-year old, the zestful and courageous Malala Yousafzai, for us to admit the cancer that the TTP is.
The TTP (“savages and beasts,” as the Senate resolution put it without naming them) has been practising barbarism in the name of Islam and takes pride in being feared merchants of cruelty. They have established suicide factories that transform 10-year-olds into human bombs. They have been slitting the throats of their opponents (including Pakistani soldiers) and filming such gruesomeness for marketing purposes. They have indiscriminately attacked military establishments, personnel and civilians. And they have systematically eliminated state officials and leaders within the society whose resolve to stand up to these savages has been visible and deemed contagious.
Malala has been attacked because she fell within this category of people who refused to endorse their retrograde worldview or be coerced into submission. What can be more contagious (and scary for the TTP) than the refusal of a 14-year-old girl to be afraid? What will the brutes and the bullies do if ordinary people refuse to be cowed down? But what is startling is that despite the across-the-board concern for Malala’s health and wellbeing,** many of our political and thought leaders still lack the moral clarity, or the courage, to identify the TTP as the murderous thugs that they are.**
**“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” Edmund Burke had argued. **And he was right. This is not about bravado. (If Malala has taught us a lesson, it is that we don’t need guns but clarity of thought and the courage of conviction to stand up to tyranny.) This is not about US imperialistic policies or the anger that post-9/11 US wars have provoked within Muslim societies. No amount of evilness attributed to the US can rationalise the actions of a religion-inspired militant group that tyrannises fellow citizens and fights the state with the aim to capture it.
And this is not about drones. Drones are a bad idea for state sovereignty and international legal order. Their legitimacy will threaten international peace by giving pre-emptive self-defence a new meaning. As a weapon system drones cause collateral damage and undermine due process of law. Their use in fighting an insurgency involving citizens is unjustifiable on moral and legal grounds. But the Taliban did not become barbarians because the US started using drones. The collateral damage caused by them might have opened up a new recruitment arena for the Taliban, but let’s not confuse cause and effect.
Leaders have the ability to do a few things that set them apart from their followers. They can bring the spotlight to an issue. They can define the underlying problem. And they can offer solutions. Imran Khan’s peace march to Tank was commendable because it did the first thing: it brought within our contemplation the fact that Fata is a part of Pakistan. It reminded us that the blood of innocent civilians isn’t cheaper just because it is spilled in our “ilaqa ghair.” But that is all it did right.
Imran Khan’s prognosis of the root cause for “violence” (the tongue-in-cheek reference to the TTP’s terrorist ways hardy acknowledged explicitly) – i.e., the US presence in Afghanistan – is wrong. In highlighting the anguish of innocent civilians in the tribal belt, omitting the mention of cruelty being inflicted on them by the TTP is disingenuous, if not outright dishonest. And the proposed solution to fixing our broken Fata – i.e., unleashing willing tribesmen on the Taliban – is not just simplistic but also unconstitutional. Isn’t misrepresenting problems worse then refusing to talk about them?
Our centre-left liberal political parties, all in government at the moment, are guilty of being wimpy. They do not have the nerve to stand up against bigotry and intolerance even when they understand the evil. The bigots riled up against Salmaan Taseer and the ruling parties backed down. The TTP has been targeting members of the PPP and the ANP and their kin at will, and yet these parties have manifested lack of courage and will to fight the TTP. The crime of our ruling regime is one of omission. But is Imran Khan rendering himself liable to the charge of misrepresentation?
Speaking at the Karan Thapar show recently, Imran Khan refused to name names (Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Hafiz Saeed) while asserting that he will eradicate all militant groups if voted to power. His excuse was that Pakistan has become a very polarised place, as evidenced by Salmaan Taseer’s killing, and there was no point trying to become a hero who someone might shoot. He said something similar in Talat Hussain’s show while speaking of the attack on Malala. Refusing to condemn the TTP explicitly, he explained that the PTI had workers and supporters in TTP-controlled areas whose safety could be jeopardised if he spoke candidly.
Imran Khan’s position on the role of the army in festering problems confronting Pakistan has been similar. He condemns drones, but not the army that implicitly allows them by clearing Pakistani airspace to avoid accidents. He opposes violence in Balochistan, but not the invidious role of intelligence agencies. His argument is that, legally speaking, the elected civilian government is in charge of the khakis, and if it is impotent enough not to assert control, it ought to resign. The ruling civilian government’s informal justification is admission of weakness.
The PPP-led regime acknowledges that it has little say in relation to drones, Balochistan, the Taliban, Afghanistan and the US, as these things fall within the domain of the khakis. And our history is witness to the treatment meted out to civilian governments when they wade into khaki domain. So how does one understand Imran Khan’s position vis-a-vis religion-inspired militant groups, whether those of the sectarian variety or the TTP? He wants the civilian government to go home if it can’t reign in the khakis and turn theory into practice. But he will not identify and condemn the TTP and other militant outfits because expediency and ground realities advise against it?
It is important to identify the root causes of violence. So let’s start with the homegrown ones that we can address even before we conquer the world. Let’s speak about the abuse of religion by militant groups and religious political parties that act as abettors and apologists for terrorists. Let’s speak about the khaki-contrived jihadi project that armed, trained, organised and brainwashed citizen militias to pursue the state’s national security goals. Let’s speak about the willingness of the state to cede its monopoly over violence to “lashkars” in breach of Article 256 of the Constitution and to continue to treat Fata as non-man’s land diving Pakistan and Afghanistan, as opposed to sovereign territory.
There can be legitimate difference of opinion over what would constitute the most effective anti-insurgency strategy for Pakistan. But let us understand that under no conception of rule of law can amnesty be offered to wilful and unrepentant criminals, that unconditional offer of peace to terrorists is capitulation and refusing to condemn those admitting their crimes is appeasement. We need national resolve to fight the cancer of intolerance and violence epitomised by the TTP. And we must judge the leaders who are timid, confused or simply unwilling to take a candid position on this most crucial aspect of state and societal reform.
Email: [EMAIL=“[email protected]”][email protected]
Re: Malala Yousufzai attacked
State of denial – The Express Tribune
State of denial
The writer is a former bureau chief and chief correspondent for Reuters in Pakistan. He is now travelling and writing for Truly, Nomadly, Deeply. He can be reached at [email protected]
Pakistan is a land of many stories, and I miss them terribly. But what I don’t miss, having been forced to leave Pakistan this summer because of a possible threat to my safety, is the constant barrage of conspiracy theories and an unwillingness by smart people to accept what is clear as day.
The shooting of Malala Yousufzai is just the latest case. There are many educated Pakistanis who simply can’t accept that the barbarous thugs known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) could shoot a brave 14-year-old schoolgirl reformer in the head. No matter that the TTP spokesman claimed credit for it. No matter that he said they would do it again if given half the chance.
Curious timing, these conspiracists mutter darkly. The attack is obviously an attempt to force the military into an operation in North Waziristan against Pakistan’s will, they say. Or, it’s a plot to discredit the PTI and its opposition to drone strikes. (What drone strikes have to do with the bloody attack on a child is never clearly explained.)
This, if I may, as an outsider and an observer of Pakistan, is Pakistan’s gaping wound: a collective inability — or unwillingness — to accept responsibility for its internal problems.
Everything is a plot by the Indians, Americans or Israel. Or all three! Militancy, power cuts, corruption, economic stagnation, Osama bin Laden, all of it. I once had Latif Khosa, governor of Punjab, blame power outages on the American invasion of Afghanistan, and not the Pakistan government’s inability to settle the circular debt problem. Zaid Hamid, conspiracist extraordinaire, vowed revenge on the TTP and their “Hindu backers”. Even the match-fixing by the Pakistani cricket team was a set-up by dark forces bent on Pakistan’s destruction.
Goodness! How did Pakistan manage to acquire so many shadowy enemies? In short, it — or rather, the men who run it — invented them.
Anyone with a lack of sense knows the Pakistani “establishment” (such a polite euphemism) has for years cried wolf in order to justify claiming its outsized share of the national budget and foreign aid. India was poised to invade at any moment! The Americans are going to steal our nukes!
The efforts to spot dark plots and enemies under every bushel have found fertile soil in a population already poisoned by a school system that promotes bigotry against other religious groups, by a media that lionises murderers in a chase for ratings and by politicians such as Imran Khan and his PTI who pal around with men who openly support the Taliban and their vicious ideology. I refer, of course, to men such as Hamid Gul and Maulana Samiul Haq.
Pakistan has real problems, yes. India is an economic rival and the relationship with Washington is a complicated one. The issue of Pashtun nationalism on both sides of the Durand Line has to be handled carefully. But instead of looking at what is right in front of them — the military’s support for jihadist groups since the 1980s has now gotten out of control and threatens the state — Pakistanis have been encouraged to blame others. They ignore the cancer that has been eating away at Pakistan since before the usurpation of Ziaul Haq: the supported rise of an intolerant and severe nationalism that conflates piety with patriotism. It’s an ugly nationalism that excludes and marks others as outsiders and, thus, as enemies.
This twisting of a faith was not the work of America, or India or Israel. This was done by Pakistan’s own leaders and generals for crass and short-term gains. The knock-on effects have been catastrophic for a society that was once more tolerant, open and welcoming to the outside world. It leads to smart people unwilling to see what is plain in front of their faces: That militants once backed by their own military are intent on killing anyone who disagrees with them, even if it’s a 14-year-old girl. And that the men with guns need to be dealt with. With all the severity they mete out to others.
In the end, the real enemy of Pakistan is not India or the United States. It’s not even passivity in the face of — or even acceptance of — a pernicious and twisted ideology. It’s the denial that the ideology has come from within Pakistan itself.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2012.
