Pakistan’s enemies are not outsiders, they are among us, claims policy expert

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Islamabad, Aug. 22: The level of indoctrination in the country is such that many Pakistanis are unwilling to accept that Muslims can kill Muslims or that Pakistan has internal enemies, said Raza Rumi, Director of Policy and Programmes Jinnah Institute in Islamabad, adding that Pakistan should wake up to reality, as the attackers of the PAF air base in Kamra were not American, Indian or Israeli agents, but jihadists ostensibly working in league with radical elements within Pakistan.

Members of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) attacked the Kamra air base on the night of the 27th day of Ramazan, and battled the military for more than five hours. The attack has been construed as a reaction to the military’s resolve to clean up North Waziristan ostensibly under mounting U.S. pressure.

A recent local poll, notwithstanding its methodological limitations, has revealed that 49 percent of Pakistanis consider America an enemy while 26 percent think India is the enemy, Rumi wrote in The Express Tribune.

The first reaction of otherwise sensible people to a terror attack is that Blackwater and other U.S. contractors have hired the assassins killing Pakistanis. The material evidence on the other hand negates this impression. But no one wishes to hear ‘facts’ as they challenge the ideological fortress of denial that Pakistanis have built around themselves, he said.

Pakistan’s political elites will have to work together to reverse the state patronage to extremists and their networks, Rumi stated.

If Pakistanis have to resist U.S. ‘hegemony’ or the Indian influence in the region, it will not be done through oiling the jihad industry, sloganeering, media twists, and Friday rallies. For Pakistan’s sovereignty, substantial strides have to be made. By reforming the country’s taxation structure, creating jobs, undertaking a massive education reform and building trade ties with the regional powers Pakistan could perhaps move towards becoming a strong ‘nation’, he further wrote.

Before everything, Pakistanis need to reset the narrative and explore what ails the country. In the absence of such reflection and policy debate, Pakistan’s future remains murky and uncertain, he concluded. (ANI)