With bombings on a daily basis, it is clear that the American, Afghani and Pakistani policy of eradicating terrorism has not worked. Militants (be they Taliban, Al Qaida, LeT or Jundullah) seem very apt at retaliating state aggression with explosions and taking innocent lives with them in the process. As in the previous entry, a suggestion regarding how to handle terrorism needs to be made. It seems that taking away their future ranks may not be enough; we need to do something to protect the people from the militants of today. Pakistan can try a new innovative strategy. Seeing how conventional methods have not met with much success, a complete overhaul might just provide the assistance we need to beat militancy. If these radical measures work, we can recommend them to the American and Afghani governments and even NATO.
As we have done before, we should try making deals with individuals in the banned militant outfits to neutralize the terrorist threat. However, unlike the earthly deals that the army, intelligence agencies and politicians have made so far, we need to make heavenly deals in the same way that Al Zahwari and Mullah Omar’s people do. Perhaps General Kiyani could try to lure the terrorists to play for the right team. “Hey you! Yes you in the turban and the wispy beard! Are you an Al Qaida member? Excellent! Boy have I got a deal for you! What’s Usama offering you? 72 virgins? That’s it? He couldn’t do better than that? Look, I’ve got a better offer for you… work for me and I’ll make sure when you die, you get 74 virgins, and I’ll even throw in 20 sloppy seconds!”
People like Faisal Shehzad (the New York City would be bomber) might not be as easily hoodwinked though. For them, a more subtle approach might be better. Send a British Old Labour Party worker to go visit him. The two can start to bond over how evil the capitalist system is, how the economic decline that resulted in Mr. Shehzad’s home foreclosure was a result of the evil capitalism loving God fearing right-wingers and the only way to deal with such issues is to become a left wing American Democrat and get your views across. Better yet, make Mr Shehzad a sob story on on of Micheal Moore's documentaries about the evils of capitalism and the current political setup in America.Of course, someone of Faisal Shehzad’s ethnicity may never progress in American politics but at least he won’t have his head filled with thoughts of declaring war on a sovereign state and then try to blow up Times New Square.
Pakistan needs to start thinking “outside the box” to come up with a way to battle this menace. The time for conventional war is over and we have seen it fail. Madrassas and training camps are beginning to mushroom all over the country and the state has been unable to do much to stop it. While these may seem to be drastic measures, ones that might be met with scorn and ridicule, they certainly do seem to be worth a try seeing that everything else General Kiyani and (previously) Musharraf tried has failed.
