Terrorism can only be eliminated if the causes that breed terrorism are first terminated
A SIMPLE and easily comprehensible method for explaining a maxim is to narrate a relevant story. Ensuing true story in the following paragraphs reveals the causes that transformed an ordinary person into a terrorist.
Way back in 1952 Mohammed Alam Khoso, alias Almo Khoso, was a normal student in the Government College, Hyderabad. Son of a poor farmer, Almo belonged to a backward territory within the interior of Sindh. His father, apart from his own five acre land tilled the soil of the landed aristocrat who by virtue of his vote-bank rubbed shoulders in the corridors of power. The clever manager of the landlord, called kamdar in Sindhi language, grabbed the five acre land of the poor farmer on the plea that he had failed to return the loan the farmer had borrowed from the landlord which in fact he had never borrowed. The ever-busy landlord had hardly any time to listen to the grievances of his farmer. Whenever he tried to contact the landlord he was insulted and humiliated by his personal servants.
Finding no way out the old farmer went to the police station to lodge a complaint against the kamdar, the manager of the landlord. The SHO was under countless obligations to the landlord, and was chum of the kamdar. He refused to register a case against the kamdar. The old farmer lost his patience, and turned violent. He abused the system, and cursed the kamdar and the landlord. Obviously, he landed in grave trouble. He was beaten, incarcerated in the lockup, and was charged with rebellion against the state and the rulers.
Hearing about their father’s plight the two daughters of the farmer came running to the police station. They couldn’t withstand the miserable condition in which they saw their father. He was lying sprawled on the floor of the lockup, and was profusely bleeding from the nostrils. His one arm was broken. The girls cried as they cursed the SHO and the constables. The old man opened his eyes and looked at his daughters clinging to the iron bars of the lockup. In a feeble voice he said, “Run away. They are savages.”
The SHO pushed the girls in the lockup, and talked to the old man, and asked, “Would you still insist on registering a case against the kamdar, and the zamindar?” “No.” The old farmer trembled, and said, “No, I won’t.” “But, we would.” The girls said, “We insist that justice should prevail.”
The girls were stripped, and dishonoured in front of the old man. The father gasped, and died. Thereafter, the girls were allowed to go. Instead of going back to their house, two sisters plunged into a well and committed suicide.
The horrible story was communicated to Almo Khoso in Hyderabad. He abandoned studies, and headed for the village. After the burial of his father and two sisters Almo Khoso went to the police station. Incidentally the SHO was not around. Almo snatched a rifle from the cop who in company of three other constables had dishonoured his sisters. He killed them, and blew their heads off.
Almo Khoso then mounted a horse, and galloped to the house of the kamdar. He pumped several bullets into the body and brain of kamdar. The circumstances (causes) converted a student into a terrorist.
The SHO and the landlord went into hiding. During his search for the SHO and the landlord Almo Khoso killed several of their henchmen and accomplices. After a year or so he spotted the SHO travelling in a jeep on the Indus highway along with his four armed constables. He killed the four constables when they tried to engage Almo in an encounter. He dumped the once dreaded SHO in a boat, and rowed him in deep waters. He tied him to the mast, and subjected him to slow, painful death with a dagger. After several hours the SHO gave up his ghost. Subsequently, Almo disfigured the SHO’s face with bullets.
As a terrorist Almo Khoso lived for about five years, and died in a shootout with the police.
Human attitudes, behaviours, and reactions are governed by a simple maxim, cause and its effect. No sane person would take up a gun, and go on a killing spree just for nothing. All forms of revenge and personal vendetta can’t be excluded from the aphorism. Causes do have their effects. While dealing with ‘effect’ (terrorism) it is essential to unearth the ‘cause’ for it. Simply vowing that you intend to terminate terrorism won’t work. You will have to terminate the causes first that breed terrorism. If you indulge in any operation for eliminating terrorism without addressing its causes, you are bound to indulge in counter-terrorism.
Injustice, social inequity, economic disparity, hegemony of the ‘haves, over the ‘have-nots’, ploy of the powerful over the powerless, invasion of other people’s lands, properties, and countries on flimsy grounds, and growing exploitation of the poor countries by the rich countries are some of the few causes that culminate into terrorism.
Let me conclude our session today by telling you a true tale. Incidentally, it was published last month in a leading newspapers of Karachi. Fourteen years ago a lady doctor Fouzia working at the Jinnah Hospital, Karachi was allegedly murdered in the apartment of MPA Raheem Buksh Jamali. He was apprehended, and was subsequently granted bail. The honourable court took fourteen years in determining whether or not the accused Raheem Buksh Jamali had murdered Dr Fouzia. The honourable court honourably acquitted the accused Raheem Buksh Jamali. He had not murdered Dr Fouzia. Who killed Dr Fouzia then? Who will find out, and in how many years?
