Lal Masjid is still the focus of media
By Abid Jan Razarwal
The standoff between the hardliner cleric of Lal Masjid, his followers (Students) and the Pak army is still continuing in Islamabad for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday.
Though one of the cleric Maulana Abdul Aziz has been arrested by authorities while trying to escape wearing a burqa (veil) and coming out of the mosque among a group of female students. The other cleric Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi has vowed not to surrender to the authorities along with hundreds of his male and female students. The Pakistan government has prevailed upon every possible option to convince the cleric to come out and surrender himself but the cleric is still adamant. While as a fall out of the Lal Masjid episode terrorist activities have been accelerated in all parts of the country especially in NWFP. In Islamabad the plane of President Musharraf was attacked while in Peshawar an army convoy was ambushed by terrorists killing four armymen. Though majority of the public of Pakistan are moderate and disapprove the world vision of hardliners.
But the architects of the policies of the world especially after the 9/11 incident have made the world more insecure due to their flawed policies based on bloodshed and violence.
Even after the 9/11 the policies of the rulers have made the world more insecure and that too under the pretext of making it more secure. There is no denying the fact that violence breeds violence and the rulers by resorting to start war against terrorism has simply increased the violence in the world and terrorism has increased.
Hearts could be won by sympathy, love and fellow feelings not by coercive force of the states machinery. The billions of dollars wasted on the 'war against terror' could be utilized by ending illiteracy and poverty from the world. Injustice, poverty, illiteracy and the longstanding political conflicts in Middle East and South Asian countries are undoubtedly the breeding ground for terrorism. But the rulers instead of extirpating the roots of terrorism are further fuelling it by resorting to coercive force against it.
The terrorists and extremists are scattered within the population in Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan and the NATO forces by resorting to aerial bombing against them on poor intelligence reports kill thousands of innocent civilians including women and children. This practice of huge collateral damages in the villages and towns of Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan is the main reason that public in these areas are supporting Talibaan and are against of the policies of Bush, Karzai and Musharraf administrations.
