Defeating the Taliban’s Ideology

Over the years, the Taliban have polluted the minds of their incarcerated people to an extent that they feel pride to explode themselves for the anonymous remuneration, promised to them by their gurus.
Taliban get hold of three categories of the people. The first group comprises children from 8 to 12 years. Being soft targets and easy to be motivated, Taliban initially brain wash them and then use them for their nefarious designs like suicide attacks, bombing and for fighting against security forces. In term of finances, they spend very less on them and can easily get them either from Madrassas , in the attire of Islamic teaching or failure to these, through abduction or forceful snatching from their helpless parents in their areas of influence. Another group is of the youth over 1 years of age bracket, mostly who have neither resources enough to continue their studies nor could get any employment. And the third group is of the grown up people having over 25 years of age. They are either religiously motivated or being jobless, thus lured in by the Taliban. These two groups are offered good pay packages by the Taliban and in return are used the way desired by them (Taliban). Either under the erroneous motivation in the garb of religion or else because of the financial benefits, they are used for terrorism of all sort by the Taliban. With the passage of time the thought process of these militants become so harder that they cannot be reverted back to their normal lives and even if they desire, would be eliminated by the Taliban. They adopt tone and texture as per their trainers with the determination to achieve the objective desired by Taliban, following their ideology. They are being taught that, Taliban are the true Muslims and very soon there would a Taliban government in Pakistan and elsewhere in other Muslim countries. The bottom line of the Taliban ideology is that; every act of the Government of Pakistan, starting from its constitution, judicial system institutions, Armed Forces and other organisations are un-Islamic and whatever Taliban are doing is the true Islam. With this theme, they publicize their ideology through repeated brain washing of the youth. In 99 % cases the implementers (suicide bombers and other militant fighters) do not even know the real clout at their back and that what they really yearning for while using them for various terrorist activities. These brain-washed people blindly follow their gurus' whose teachings are absolutely contrary to the philosophy of Islam. As far as teaching of Islam is concerned, it is a religion of peace and love for human beings. Indeed this great religion teaches harmony and forbearance and orders its believers for a compassion and justice; thus "Islam and terrorism cannot stand side by side". Islam forbids terrorism and aims to bring peace and security to the world. Not only Islam, but as a matter of fact, no divine religion permits terrorism and violence if interpreted in its essence. The Holy Quran says: "If someone kills another person - unless it is in retaliation for someone else or for causing corruption in the earth - it is as if he had killed all mankind". Thus, the teaching of Islam is that, 'a person who kills even a single man indeed commits a crime as if he had murdered all mankind on earth and such people will have a painful punishment' by Almighty. In no part of the Qur'an does Allah command believers to "respond to violence with violence", but commands Muslims to "respond to evil with goodness". The question arises who are these belligerent perpetrators, who in the guise of Islam undertake these un-Islamic activities. This is for sure, that they are not Muslims. And the logics for this statement are: first; no Muslim would ever kill any other human being, as directed by Holy Quran in clear wordings as quoted above. Secondly; no Muslim would ever attack other Muslims once they are offering prayers in the mosques, Eid gatherings or during any other religious congregation and during national ceremonies. Thirdly; in the areas of their sway, they brutally treat locals, men and women, which is an act against Islam. Even as per the directive of Islam, security and protection of the non-Muslims in an Islamic state is the responsibility of that state administration. Fourthly; they have been and are still razing all the educational institutions, especially of women; a practice in complete violation of Islamic teachings. As the Holy Prophet (PBUH) said; "seeking the knowledge is must for every Muslim man and woman. Fifthly; all their activities are directed against a state whose bases are on Islamic ideology. It is an Islamic state, whose constitution has nothing un-Islamic. For the bulk of Pakistani masses, until the beginning of 2009, there have been a lot of misperceptions about the true motives and ideology of the Taliban. Ill-informed masses, goaded with the spirit of Islam, perhaps thought that Taliban are fighting for the cause of Islam. But actually it was a misconception among the innocent masses of Pakistan. Thanks to media, the security forces, and the intellectuals who over the period of time unmasked their true faces, which has nothing else but anti Pakistan campaign, being played on behest of anti Pakistan forces and states. These states and forces pay huge sums of the uninterrupted financial support to the militants and also provide them with the latest weaponry and equipment. All that they intend is to internally knock Pakistan off balance and attrite its security forces through so-called religious and sectarian moves or through promotion of various sub-nationalistic sentiments all over the country, while maintaining the pressure at the international level. With all these intents of militants and anti-Pakistan forces in mind, what should be the response at the national level? Over the past few months, there is a great change in the perception of masses, which previously were under the grip of the Taliban ideology. The nation indeed has understood the true motives of these fissiparous forces desirous of disintegrating Pakistan, an objective of all those having historical enmity with Pakistan. There is an immediate need to mobilize the masses for ensuring steps like: one; creation of national integration among the rank and file of Pakistan under the auspices of the basic ideology, which provided the very basis of its creation. Two; a dedicated media campaign is needed to give true picture of the activities of the militants with documentary proofs. This would clarify the doubts of masses, if still persisting in their minds about the Taliban and their ideology. Three; an awareness should be created among the masses through elected representatives and government officials as well as through media to, "look for intruders; both locals, having militant's ideology and outsiders, who had entered or trying to enter the society" down to village or Mohallah level. This should be reinforced and reacted by instantaneous response as per the law, by the masses or at the level of local administration to get their area clear of the miscreants. Four; People especially the youth of the militancy-hit areas should be provided with employment opportunities on emergency basis. This would save them from drifting into the hands of the militants. As a corollary to that all religious Madarass be kept under strict vigilance for securing the youth studying there from falling into militants hands. Five; in all insurgency hit areas, there is a need to make available a potent quick reaction group of security forces for a rapid response against any likely militancy. Seven; considerably there is a need for an effective intelligence setup in the militancy hit areas and all around the infiltration routes. This dedicated intelligence setup should provide timely information to deal with the militants before they could be effective in the areas or grip the society with their ideology. The military operations in Malakand, Swat, Waziristan and elsewhere in the tribal region have created serious dents among the rank and file of the militants by bursting their bases and strongholds. There is growing demoralization and distrust in various groups of the militants. Taliban leaders are making serious efforts to motivate their hired people for continuation of their brutal mission of killing the innocent people of Pakistan, but facing difficulties in doing so. In a number of cases, the terrorists are voluntarily handing themselves over to the security forces. The time is ripe and the ongoing military operations against the wrongdoers must continue without any compromise until the militants are completely purged away. As in the past, the political leadership must not go for any compromise or agreement with Taliban, even if compelled by their coalition partners. Let there be an end to these anti-Pakistan forces once and for all. Furthermore, these operations must have whole hearted support of the people of Pakistan, without whom, there cannot be a success. For the purpose, people must be mobilized to stand against the Taliban ideology. After all the persons of security forces are sacrificing their lives for the comfort of the masses and Military Operations alone would not be enough to defeat the militant's ideology. In order to do away with the militancy of Taliban, a dedicated follow up is required at the joint level of; masses, media, government functionaries, elected representatives, intellectuals and Islamic philosophers to purify the minds of all those who have been infested with this anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan ideology.
Dr. Raja Muhammad Khan
Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com