Imran Khan's refusal to call Osama a terrorist spells doom for Pakistan
If you have a path but do not have the clarity of vision in order to complete your journey, you will not be able to move for a minute on your path.
That's what I felt when I read this tweet by the chairman of Pakistan People's Party, Bilawal Bhutto:
Disgusting.Disgraceful.Shameless cowardice.insult to all of us who have fallen victim to evils of violent extremism https://t.co/gsfc2pkMvf
— BilawalBhuttoZardari (@BBhuttoZardari) May 24, 2016
Bilawal was reacting to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan's refusal to call slain al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a terrorist. When asked on a private television channel if he thought bin Laden was a terrorist, Imran said he would not want to comment.
However, Imran isn't the only one in Pakistan who seems to have turned a blind eye to the scourge of terrorism. Pakistan's interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Khan had refused to accept the killing of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour, even though the Taliban had itself confirmed the killing and US president Barack Obama had termed it an "important milestone in our longstanding effort to bring peace and prosperity to Afghanistan".
Imran, it may be noted, has always been silent on the Taliban; we have hardly ever heard him criticise the terrorist organisation. It was he who suggested that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) should have offices in Pakistan, and had accepted in an earlier interview that a senior Afghan Taliban leader was treated at Lahore's Shoukat Khanum Hospital, which was founded by him.
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| Imran Khan refused to comment on whether Osama bin Laden was a terrorist. |
The PTI chief's unwillingness to call bin Laden a terrorist exposes Imran's policy of treating the terrorists with a kid glove. Is he at all serious in combating terrorism? It looks doubtful.
Indeed politicians like Imran seem to have taken off from the policy of former dictator Zia-ul-Haq which was characterised by backing militant groups. These politicians now think of the Taliban operatives as their brothers.
If Imran is unable to call bin Laden a terrorist, how can he present himself as a leader of the people of Pakistan? Does he think the people will accept him despite knowing that he has strong sympathies for the Taliban - a group which wants to turn the world into hell? How could they forget that common citizens and civilians have been killed as a result of terrorism? It is not only the problem of one country or one region, it is in fact the problem of the entire world.
Imran and indeed Choudhary Nisar Khan's statements prove that for these politicians, there is always a so-called "good" Taliban, or mujahideen (freedom fighters). It is unlikely that these politicians can lead the people of Pakistan to a bright future that they want and deserve.
It is sad that those who kill innocent people get more sympathy from a section of our political class than the people themselves. We need a clear strategy against the terrorists and must dare to speak against them. The war on terror can never be won till some of our politicians keep following a policy of identifying a "good" Taliban, and sympathising with them. When the Pakistan military has said that neither "good" nor the "bad" Taliban is acceptable, this sympathy that some of our politicians are showing to the Taliban threatens to drag us back into a dark age.