INVITATION TO A BULL

BY Ali Sukhanver

Must Pakistan jump into another hell of trials and tribulations by becoming a party to the war between Saudi Arab and Yemen as a few of the so-called analysts are suggesting? Has Pakistan not learnt any lesson from its involvement in Afghanistan during the days of USSR’s interference there? Did Pakistan earn anything else but blames and allegations along with an unceasing torrent of terrorism by standing with US in its so called war on terror? All these questions are very painful in nature. It is the time to realize that by stepping into the issues, which do not belong to us, we do nothing but create problems only for our own country and for our own nation. It is also a fact that we don’t have a very cordial atmosphere around us in the neighbourhood, so keeping in view the whole scenario, we as a nation, will have to be very much careful in our decisions and assessments. The only important thing we need at present is peace. We have a lot of problems within our own boundaries; our army is engaged in a very intense war against the terrorists; our law-enforcement agencies are doing their best to eliminate Karachi from all type of criminals and our political government is trying its best to get rid of chronicle crisis like lawlessness, energy shortage, water scarcity, unemployment and inflation. The only aim and objective is to create a peaceful atmosphere so that Pakistan may attract foreign investment which is no doubt the most urgent need of time.

Peace is essentially the basic ingredient for a prosperous society; unfortunately the world of today is lacking this ingredient the most. Injustice, prejudice and unfairness in attitudes are the fundamental elements which mar the process of peace everywhere, at every level. We see that the societies where there is supremacy of justice, people are living a peaceful life and the societies which lack justice and accountability are passing through a continuous process of social and economic deterioration. The situation is ever worst in the South Asian countries. We have the examples of countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and even Pakistan where law is just an outworn book of rules and regulations and the only rule in practice is that of ‘ Might is right’. Lawlessness has become the part of national temperaments. The worst example of lawlessness is that a culprit admits he has committed a crime, but he is not punished for his crime. The situation becomes graver if the committed crime is not against some individual but against a neighbouring country. The Samjhota Express tragedy is also one of such examples where we see the helplessness of law at its worst.

This sad incident took place on 18th February, 2007. The Hindu extremists set off bombs in two carriages of the Samjhota Express train which connects Pakistan and India twice weekly.Sixty-eight passengers, mostly Pakistanis, were killed and dozens more were injured. As per tradition, the Indian government and media initially began pointing the finger at Pakistan for the terror attacks. The Bharatiya Janata Party did all its best to drag Pakistan into this terrorist activity but later on somehow or the other it appeared that various Hindutva militant groups were involved in this terrorist activity.
The Central Bureau of Investigation arrested a former Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) activist from India, Swami Aseemanand, for his involvement in various terrorist activities. On 24 December 2010, he was handed over to the National Investigation Agency where he admitted in front of a magistrate that he was directly involved in planning terror attacks on Samjhota Express. In his statement he said, “It is not Muslims, but Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) activists who planned and executed the bomb blasts on the Samjhota Express in 2007.” Swami Aseemanand further said that it was his interaction with one of the ‘innocent’ Muslim youths in jail that led him to his confession but in spite of his confession of involvement in various terrorist activities Aseemanand was granted bail on August 28, 2014. On the other hand, instead of taking to task the terrorists who have openly confessed their involvement in Samjhota Express blasts, India is continuously blaming Pakistan for favouring and supporting the terrorists involved in Mumbai Blasts. In such circumstances, it will not be a wise decision to step into another war as we are already in a warlike situation with India. The most important requirement of time is to put our own home in order.