After Osama: Time To Get Our Act Together

By D. Asghar

Some learn from their mistakes, others only learn to deny their mistakes. We tend to belong in the latter category. When the neighbors used to point fingers at us and accuse us for harboring terrorist, we used to rebut, deny and refute. Our simple comeback was, “good old malicious Bharti propaganda.”

We released many hard core and well known terrorists, due to “lack of evidence.” Our political leaders and security establishment categorically denied any information on any “high value” and most wanted targets at many occasions. Amazingly, some very well known names in the global terrorist networks, such as Libbi, Zubaida, and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad were found within our territories.Was that a coincidence or was that a strange set of circumstances, that we were able to attract such characters in the land of Jinnah. Any time the obvious was pointed at us, we twisted the story the other way around. We called others liars and blamed them with a nefarious agenda. Their sole aim and objective was to disarm the nukes of the only Muslim nation with such unique capability.

When OBL was killed in Abbottabad, a few days back, we were totally shocked, surprised and embarrassed. Immediately we went into the spin and denial mode. Refusing and rebutting. The whole world on one side and Pakistan on the other. Within a day, when the obvious began apparent, then some of us began glorifying the one who had openly declared a war against our people and warned us of dire consequences.

We tried very foolishly to shift the blame on the entire world by calling it the failure of the intelligence community of the entire world. The fact is that land from Karachi to Khyber is ours. The whole world is not responsible for it. We may brush this one. We may warn others, to not plan any future misadventures. But it will not change the perception. Let’s face it there is a trust deficit now. It is world vs Pakistan.

Until or unless we intend to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, we have to live by the rules of the world. Fact is that we have been on many misadventures and expeditions at the cost of our land, our people and their prosperity. It is high time, that we accept our mistakes and chart our course for the future.

Yes our first priority should be how to redeem ourselves. How to let the world know that we are the Pakistan where unity of all Pakistanis is our faith and we are disciplined to follow the path of our founding fathers. Its high time to get our act together. The world is not against us, its us against the world now. It is now or never that we will be able to get our act together. The first step is swallowing our false pride and tendering an apology to the world. The rest will follow on its own.