IN the wake of the Peshawar carnage, the entire nation was united in its mourning for children whose dream of a bright future through education fell apart in a pool of blood. This tragedy will hopefully prove a game changer as we see the nation finally reject the morbid narrative and ideology of the Taliban.

The immediate question was that while united in grief, are we united too in the will to fight the terror that stalks the length and breadth of our land. The military and political leadership resolved to be on the same page through a concerted counterterrorism strategy. Given the mandate by a multiparty conference in Peshawar, a parliamentary committee headed by the interior minister and advised informally by some counterterrorism professionals, including this writer, came up with a comprehensive framework for state and society to tackle the menace of terrorism and violent religious extremism in all its forms.

A summit conference of all the political parties, in the presence of our military leadership, came up with a 20-point counterterrorism National Action Plan reflecting the outcome of the collective thinking of the present national security stakeholders.

The war is not confined to Fata. It must also be fought in our urban and rural areas.

The first two points relating to the execution of convicted terrorists and the establishment of special trial courts presided over by military officers for the next two years are military-led initiatives, and convinced the political leadership to do away with the previous PPP-led government’s informal moratorium on the death penalty and to also swallow the bitter anti-democratic pill of military courts against the backdrop of a commitment to sustain the judiciary’s independence even while having swift and speedy trials against the perpetrators of terror.

This nudge from the security establishment will surely test the tenacity and wisdom of the democratic forces, human rights activists and above all the independent and esteemed judiciary that has unfortunately been maligned due to a slow, moribund and defence lawyer-driven system. The latter not only delays justice but also results in the acquittal of suspected terrorists due to ineffective investigative and prosecution mechanisms.

The state machinery while handing over the role of judges to military officers has in fact acknowledged its failure to address the ills that mostly force anti-terrorism courts to get bogged down in non-terrorism-related crimes and cases of a political nature not even remotely linked to terrorism. Who prepares the schedule of offences to be included in the Anti-Terrorism Act? Not parliament but the federal government. Who is failing to ensure the safety of ATC judges, witnesses, investigators, prosecutors and lawyers? The federal and provincial governments that are mandated by counterterrorism law to ensure this protective function. The blame for this collective failure of the state should not be thrown in the courtyard of justice alone.

The other 18 points of the 20-point National Action Plan are not only to be addressed by the three organs of the state, ie legislature, executive and judiciary but also by the fourth pillar of media and civil society that are to shoulder this heavy responsibility. However, the primary responsibility will be that of the law-enforcement departments, intelligence agencies, civil armed forces and all the soft and hard elements of national power to dismantle the militant infrastructure that the non-state actors have created to unravel the state. This is not a war confined to the periphery of the Pak-Afghan border or Fata. The battles have to be fought in the vast heartland of our urban and rural areas.

Therefore, the fight against militancy will be fought by the much-maligned police state. No other force is better equipped than the police in all the intelligence-led operations in our cities and villages. They have already perished in thousands while pitted against deadly terrorist outfits. They must counter hate speech and extremist material through effective and immediate cognizance. Counter­terrorism departments maintain the record of all members, activists and facilitators of proscribed organisations under Schedule IV of the ATA.

Time has come to blacklist some and keep others on watch lists to show zero tolerance against those who resurface under the umbrella of new names and outfits. Similarly, religious persecution of minorities and different sects must be curbed with an iron hand.

Combating sectarian terrorism should now emerge as the foremost priority of the state. Funding to sectarian outfits needs to be choked and a clampdown on the publication of incendiary material is necessary. The Punjab government has recently resolved to take the lead in coming down hard on banned outfits such as Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Reasonable but effective restrictions are required to be put in place against their mentors and facilitators. The National Action Plan carries proposals that will test the will of governments and security forces to deal with this menace.

It all boils down to the test of leadership. In order to understand the military mindset, the prime minister should know what Gen de Gaulle said about politicians, that they “are of no importance. What counts is who commands”. The prime minister has shown the resolve to lead a concerted counterterrorism national action strategy but he has to prove Napoleon wrong about the politicians that “they fade and disappear for lack of unity”.

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton is reported to have told the Pakistani security establishment in 2011 that “you can’t keep snakes in your backyard and expect them only to bite your neighbours”. Her warning that “eventually those snakes are going to turn on” reflects the irony of fate — those who feed poisonous milk to the snakes end up being grievously harmed in the process.

It is high time for Pakistan’s security establishment to destroy the snake-pit of militants. The entire nation would support them if they were sincere about doing so. Thus in addition to the military courts’ issue, our military is now on public trial where translating the resolve to root out terrorism is concerned. As for politicians, I have only one message: depoliticise the police, strengthen the criminal justice institutions, and promote good governance.

The writer is a retired police officer.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2015

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