It is a tragic dilemma that we start our new Islamic year in the midst of threats. Loud claims of government officials to ensure peace end in sobs. It is not for the first time that we are hearing tall claims of fool-proof security to be ensured by the government on the eve of Moharram-ul-Haram and particularly during Ashura procession.
The officials are in the habit of issuing such statements before every heartbreaking incident, which are then followed by a barrage of condemnations and new pledges to fight sectarian strife. After each incident these ‘fool proof’ plans just fail.
Moreover, it has become a trend now that some of our analysts start to criticize the agencies and LEAs and they term it as their failure. It is not their failure at all! It is the failure of state mechanism being run by our corrupt politicians for whom priorities are different; for whom jamming communication network and ban on use of loudspeakers and restricting entry of certain Ulemma is the only solution.
These solutions may be right in specific time bracket but they are short-lived. We need proper mechanism to avoid such incidents from happening in the future. We don’t need so-called ‘fool-proof plans’, we need a long term strategy to curb this sectarian strife which is slowly and gradually tightening the noose around our people. We need to know the cause of this sectarian disease before injecting short term painkillers.
MISBAH ATTIQUE,
Islamabad, November 5.