Sarah Khan
The day of 16 December has been extremely horrifying and painful twice in 68years of history of Pakistan. One, in 1971 when Pakistan was dismembered and East Pakistan was created. Second, in 2014 when 144 innocent students and teachers of Army Public School in Peshawar were brutally killed by terrorists of Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan. Though a year has passed but the horrific flashes of the incident are still alive in hearts and minds of all Pakistanis. The incident was unfortunate and terrible in nature but it has proved to be a defining moment in the history of Pakistan. Today, the entire nation is standing united against the menace of terrorism which had deteriorated the country’s image and stalled its progress since a decade.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, the government lifted the unofficial moratorium on the death penalty; military courts were established to ensure speedy trial of perpetrators of terror activities. Despite bitter criticism from international community on resumption of death penalty in Pakistan almost all terrorists involved in the Peshawar massacre have been hanged.
The National Action Plan is being implemented in true letter and spirit by civilian and military leadership of Pakistan. There has been a crackdown against hate speech; some suspected Madressahs have been closed down; the leadership of sectarian organisations has been largely neutralised. Operation Zarb e Azb has achieved tremendous success in clearing hideouts of terrorists in Waziristan and now Pakistan Army is playing a key role in rehabilitation of locals of FATA. With the help of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, our police and rangers have been able to carry out raids on facilitators of terrorists throughout the country. The credit goes to Armed Forces of Pakistan that 2015 was comparatively a peaceful year since 2007.
At the same time, there is sufficient room for improvement to flush out the remnants of sleeping cells of terrorist across the country. Karachi, the economic hub of Pakistan had become the hub of extremism and militancy in the past few years due to financing and training by RAW. This has been proved even by various reports of foreign media (BBC). There is a need to empower Rangers in Karachi in order to eliminate the terrorists and their facilitators. Madrassah reforms and its true implementation is the need of the hour throughout the country.
Pakistan has achieved a significant milestone by signing China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), but many anti-state elements are trying to politicize the project in order to deprive the nation of its fruits at the behest of foes abroad. There is a need to overcome all hurdles in order to bring Pakistan on track of economic development. Last but not least, Pakistan may play a constructive role in Afghan reconciliation as stable Afghanistan will be more beneficial to Pakistan. But the issue of Afghan refugees and Afghan militants hiding in Pakistan under the guise of refugees needs to be addressed.
As stated earlier, the incident of Peshawar massacre was unfortunate but it has placed Pakistan on the right track and there is a need to follow it in the coming days to ensure a prosperous Pakistan. We all Pakistanis will always remain indebted to blood of those 144 innocent martyrs’ students of Army Public School who sacrificed their present for our better future.
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