It is our war

And sadly we seem to be on retreat! Hoodbhoy is spot on that most Pakistanis are not die-hard Islamists but by keeping their mouths shut in the wake of creeping Talibanization, they end up playing into the hands of these dreadful Islamists.


An overwhelming majority of Pakistan’s citizens do not want harsh strictures imposed on their personal liberties. They do not want enslavement of their women, their forced confinement in the burqa, or for them to be denied the right to education. Instead, they want a decent life for themselves and their children. They disapprove of Islam being used as a cover for tribal primitivism. But there is little protest.

We must understand this. Why is there no mass movement to confront the extremist Taliban of Miramhah and Waziristan, or the violence-preaching extremist mullah in Mingora, Lahore or Islamabad? This is because ordinary people lack the means and institutions to understand, organise, and express their values and aspirations. We do not yet have the democratic institutions that can give politics meaning for ordinary people. Depoliticising the country over the decades has led to paying this heavy price.


As Edmund Burke said, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."