Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel said this week ethat terrorists are externally funded and internally facilitated. This statement might satisfy for some why it is always foreign adversaries that are blamed for terrorist attacks but Pakistanis who are arrested for them but, it also presents certain problems and actually raises new questions.
Such statements allow us to psychologically externalise the problem of terrorism by viewing it always as a situation where we are the victim of some foreign enemies. It is not unthinkable that foreign agents are involved with anti-Pakistan activities, but we have little control over the actions of foreign powers.
The question we need to be asking is why so many Pakistanis are willing to destabilise and terrorise their own country?
The answer is always that foreign agencies are paying these Pakistanis to work against the country. However in no cases are there claims that anyone is getting rich. So they are doing it for some small sums? You would not take any sum to kill your own mother unless you truly hated her. How much must people hate their own country to destroy it for peanuts?
We are facing an existential problem that is not being forced on us from outside powers. Even if foreign powers are taking advantage, they are taking advantage of a weakness that already exists in our society. Foreign funding is not the real problem either because for that to matter, someone must already be willing to do the terrible deed. And based on arrests, that number is staggering. Over 100,000 Pakistanis have been arrested under counter-terrorism laws, and yet terrorist attacks continue.
If we are going to save this country, we must start looking inward and solving this question: Why are so many Pakistanis willing to kill and destroy this country? Once we have solved that problem, our enemies will be able to come with all the funds they can but not be able to find any buyers for their evil schemes. Only then can we start to find peace.
