For the past decade, Pakistan has been at war with itself. It is just that simple. Or is it?
When you talk to the common man, you find that everyone has a different opinion about the past decade of war, each one being a variation of something they have heard on one of the nightly news talk shows or in a newspaper. See, this is where the problem starts for the Government of Pakistan – the collation of public opinion to develop a comprehensive counter-terrorism narrative to unite the nation through the media.
Before I get into the narrative, I’d like to comment on the disappointing National Action Plan that has been drafted by the government. Each one of the 20 items have been discussed, proposed or included in legislation at some point during the past 18 months of this government’s tenure. Sadly, none of the passed legislations have ever been properly enacted. From the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NACTA) to the Pakistan Protection Ordinance (PPO), the government has failed to implement either, which would have provided the infrastructure, resources and legal cover to tackle terrorism, terror funding and support, hate-speech and incitement to violence. Sadly, both of these bills did nothing more than cosmetically pass the National Assembly and were summarily placed into a file. The current National Action Plan will do the exact same thing. The military will do what they need to do, but they will not get the required support from the politicians.
Pakistan is a nation that is divided in many ways and it will be these divisions, created by the self-motivated politicians to win seats, which will be the downfall of any counter-terrorism narrative. From ethnicity and linguistics to economics and schools of religious thought, Pakistanis are in different camps with different belief structures and different motivations. Before going into a war, the government must be able to successfully rally the nation to stand behind them, rather than the opposing force. It leads me to ask the question – are we preparing for war or just another day in Pakistan?
Over the past week, as the government launched its television advertising campaign stating “we will fight until there are no terrorists on Pakistani soil,” media anchors were debating why they should not be allowed to interview terrorists on their evening entertainment shows. Simultaneously, a fanatic was preaching hate and revenge from a well-known masjid in the heart of Islamabad and the leader of a banned extremist organization was released from prison. Not much to work with when it comes to proving that the government is serious about anything other than spending the nation’s money on flashy advertising campaigns. Sure, the Supreme Court judges came together to discuss how they could move terrorism related cases through the courts faster, but that was in the face of military courts, not because they actually thought they were doing something wrong. We have yet to hear why no terrorist has been convicted in the last seven years under the courts that a headline-grabbing Chief Justice promised to revitalize and improve.
Seven years. No terrorists convicted. And remember the banned organization leader who was released this week, while a fanatic preached hate and revenge in Islamabad.
It doesn’t bode well for a government already in trouble with election rigging, massive corruption in mega projects and a continued “look busy, do nothing” governance policy.
Let’s add to this the terrorist threat that Pakistanis face from the Tehrik-e-Taliban and their splinter organizations. There are few days in a week when a family isn’t leading a funeral procession of another martyred by the terrorists. And yet, we still turn on our televisions to watch the ‘popular’ anchors clamoring to interview the most heinous people whose job it is to spread a false message of the Islamic values and retribution for the killings of their own in Waziristan, Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber and other tribal areas, by the Pakistan Army and US drone attacks.
To counter the narrative presented by the terrorists, their supporters and apologists, the government would need to have something concrete to offer the citizens of Pakistan. Radicalization succeeds when the government doesn’t deliver on the basic principles of economic opportunities, social justice, legal justice and protection for all, no matter what their economic station in life. This government is going to have problems getting people to support them with the performance of the last 18 months, forgetting the dismal performance over the past 7 years.
But, we’ll put that aside for the time being and understand that the narrative can be countered. It can be rebuffed through some stringent steps, which like the executions, will be opposed by many who are beneficiaries of the current system.
The first, and most important step is to reel in a media that has gotten too big for its own good. For years, we have heard every anchor discuss the need that a code of conduct must be implemented to keep media houses, news organizations and television personalities in check. The ratings game has become more important that the value delivered to the nation by nineteen 24-hour news channels. It’s an overload of information from questionable sources, beat into the Pakistani brain, resulting in a more confused nation disconnected from the real issues of the country. And there is still no code of conduct from the media for itself, while there is great resistance to the government or PEMRA, a wholly toothless organization, imposing one on them.
After one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in Pakistan’s history, we had reporters going into hospital rooms to speak to the children who had survived, the parents who had lost and the government that had failed. This while the nation was traumatized and grieving the entire attack. On our television sets, throughout the day, there were intros with emotional music and pictures of the massacre, only to lead into a reporter standing in front of a camera, fighting tears, to interview another victim of the attack, hours after it happened. Then, as if the insult wasn’t enough to the national psyche, in the evenings, popular anchors would sit among religious and political leaders debating the validity of the attack from every angle, including inviting extremists onto the program to further the terrorist agenda by saying it was retaliation for deaths in Waziristan. Is this really a responsible media?
Two days after the Prime Minister addressed the nation with the National Action Plan, these same journalists sat on programs with fellow journalists, debating whether it was fair to say that airtime could not be given to terrorists. One journalist asked innocently, “If the other news organizations are able to interview bin Laden, why shouldn’t we be able to interview Fazl Ullah?” I’ll answer that one, if I may.
First, you don’t know how to put a politician, who can make a phone call and have you fired, on the hot seat. What are the chances of you asking a difficult question of someone who will order and carry out your execution? Second, Pakistan is already radicalized. When you bring terrorists on television to talk about their reasons for attacking Pakistan’s innocent, you are giving them the opportunity to radicalize more Pakistanis. Third, there is no news value in interviewing a terrorist unless you are a sympathizer or apologist. It really is just that simple. By bringing them on national television, you are giving them, their message and their cause, credibility. You don’t control the interview, they do.
And we want to declare war on our common enemy? Don’t we first need to decide who the common enemy is before we can declare war on them?
This is war and we, as a nation, can’t give the enemy, their supporters, or their apologists, the ability to speak to the nation through the national media.
Second is the elimination of all extremist literature from the market. There are many shops throughout Pakistan where you can pick up a DVD prepared by any terrorist/extremist group. The DVDs have video of suicide attacks, beheadings, sermons on jihad and other things that no good Muslim would want played in their drawing room. You can also pick up DVDs of extremist maulanas preaching that Islam is a religion of war, that those who don’t follow our religion must be converted or executed, and that we must rise up to establish the Khilafat throughout the Middle East so that Muslims are empowered around the world. This must disappear from the market. This is hate speech, terrorist propaganda. We cannot allow this to be taught to our future generations.
Third, the fastest route to radicalization is through websites and social media. The terrorists have engaged technology to spread their message across the globe without any hindrances from the local marketplace. There are Facebook pages for each of the extremist, jihadi and terrorist groups that continue to operate and spread their message to the youth of the country. There are twitter accounts created in the hundreds to spread videos of beheadings and suicide attacks to the world. And while YouTube continues to be blocked in Pakistan, the Jamia Hafsa and Lal Masjid official page are working on Facebook. And I won’t get into counting the number of websites and online forums that exist to spread the video messages from al-Qaeda, ISIS and TTP to their loyal followers.
Am I saying block Facebook or Twitter in Pakistan? No! No!
I am saying that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is blocking valuable websites while allowing terrorists to continue to have access to the people of Pakistan and the world. Why can’t the Ministry of Information Technology work with Facebook and twitter to immediately take down the pages of these organizations? Why can’t the Ministry of Information Technology work with other websites and Internet service providers to cut off access to these websites around the world?
There will be those that will say this is censorship, blocking freedom of speech and other legal arguments. I will remind them that this is a war. It’s just as much a war of ideas as it is bullets and bombs, and more wars are won in the mind than on the battlefield. Once you convince people that your message has value and you can deliver on what you are promising, even through brutal violence, you have won the war before a single bullet is fired.
To win this information war, Pakistan needs a task force of digitally educated, tech savvy individuals that are able to find the sources of this information and eliminate them. There are some individuals who are already doing this, without the infrastructure and support of government resources. The country needs people that know how the Internet and social media works to be able to find and root out the avenues where youth can be radicalized, where messages of hate are being broadcast and easy access to the relevant authorities to take action online and on ground, if required.
This is not a job for the politicians, who still rely on press conferences, billboards and slick advertising campaigns to get the message to the people. No, this is a job for those who spend hours each day working on these mediums, have networks of people stretching far and wide that can be leveraged to assist in eliminating these images, words and videos from the sightline of Pakistanis, and the world. The government should focus on what it can do effectively and put its full force into implementing and enforcing laws to protect Pakistanis.
This is the battle for Pakistan – terrorists in Muslim garb versus Muslims. Set your mind against your enemy. The winner will get Pakistan in the spoils of victory. Set your feet and prepare to fight for the battle has already started.
Khalid Muhammad is an entrepreneur, published novelist, defense analyst and political strategist