One of the sad realities of living in today’s world is how inured we have become to incidents of terrorism.
Do we know anyone who died today? Naah we don’t. So let’s hashtag, share update on FB, and move on. Which of course raises the bar for terrorists, obligating them perversely to be more “spectacular” to catch people’s attention.
Like bringing down two of the world’s tallest buildings on a busy office day.
Like storming 5-star hotels and butchering people in cold blood.
Like shooting dead close to one hundred fifty school-kids.
As a parent, it is difficult not to feel a deep bond of empathy for those that have lost a child, for it is the most frightening thing that can happen to a human being. I would not have said this a few years ago but now that I am a father, I truly mean it.
But alas in this world, I cannot just be a father. I am an Indian. I am a Hindu.
Which in Pakistan, means I am the Devil.
Which means I did it.
Not surprisingly, the Pakistani political establishment has chosen to blame “Indian intelligence agencies” (RAW) for the barbarity at Peshawar. There is Hafiz Saeed, an extremely influential voice in Pakistani politics, no matter what we would like to hope is not the case. There is General Musharaff, and I hope our Indian media organizations invite him over in one of their thought-fests to tell us more about why Indians/Hindus did it. There is, as NDTV points out, “not one single condemnation from mainsteam political parties on Hafiz Saeed’s statement”. Imran Khan has, last heard, refused to name Tehrik i Taliban because, hey, he should not be jumping to conclusions even though the TITs did say they did it but then again, what’s important is, who they are allied with and we all know who that is.
For many, it is TIT-for-tat (yes now you know why I did not write Tehreek-e-Taliban, just for that) if India can blame Pakistan for 26/11 why not India for this? It does not matter than the terrorists of 26/11 actually came from Pakistan, were Pakistani citizens, called Pakistan on their satellite phones, and had Pakistan-issued stuff and the involvement of Pakistan is corroborated by multiple sources, like US intelligence. It does not matter that Tehrik i Taliban is a radical Islamic organization that really does not like kafirs and only in a very warped alternate multiverse, would be allied with India. It does not matter that there is no proof except a photo going around social media of some men, supposedly the terrorists (though no one knows even if that is true), with the dark-skinned men being circled as “Indian” (I sincerely hope that’s someone’s idea of a sick joke, because it is even sicker to think that someone would actually take that seriously).
Nothing matters. India did it. That’s the story and they are sticking to it.
In a bizarre way this makes sense. For a country that is founded on the basis of a “safe homeland for Muslims” it is fundamentally disruptive to accept that Muslims, that too those that consider themselves extremely observant, are themselves killing Muslim children. This, by definition of the country, cannot happen. And so rather than look in the mirror, the easiest thing is to blame someone that is external, the historically designated demon.
From “Dawn”, [link]
“Religious minorities are often portrayed as inferior or second-class citizens who have been granted limited rights and privileges by generous Pakistani Muslims, for which they should be grateful,” the report said.
”Hindus are repeatedly described as extremists and eternal enemies of Islam whose culture and society is based on injustice and cruelty, while Islam delivers a message of peace and brotherhood, concepts portrayed as alien to the Hindu.”
….
The researchers also found that the books foster a sense that Pakistan’s Islamic identity is under constant threat.
”The anti-Islamic forces are always trying to finish the Islamic domination of the world,” read one passage from social studies text being taught to Grade 4 students in Punjab province, the country’s most populated.
Isn’t it natural, given that this is what is taught to students in Grade 4, in the way of Pythagoras theorem, that then becomes the truth itself, the straight line between any two points?
But forget books for a while. Let us look at a clip of Veena Malik, who since this appeared has been sentenced for blasphemy for something totally different. Structured as a dial-in show with a maulvi and with the redoubtable Ms. Malik as a host, this would be comic gold if it was not also so hateful. As a lady calls in, she is possessed by a demon (I am not kidding, watch the video if you have not seen it), and the maulvi asks the demon if he is Hindu or Muslim. Because of course, even demons have religions. And voila, the demon, in the best exorcist voice says, “Main Musalman naheen hoon” (I am not a Muslim). The maulvi, who makes up for Veena Malik’s over-acting with equally bad under-acting replies “Tum Na-Musalman Hindu hoke kaise is Musalman behen ke andar aa gaye” (How did you, a non-Muslim Hindu get into the body of a Muslim sister?)
Therein lies the problem. Any act that is demonic, any act that cannot be coped with or understood, be it making a chaste woman behave strangely or have an Islamic Jihadi turn his gun on innocent Pakistani children, is by definition a possession by the sinister “Hindu”/Indian evil entity. If such a transference cannot be accomplished in the national conversation, then the fundamental purity of the nation of the pure, the raison d’etre of its existence, is shaken to its foundation.
And that’s too much of self-doubt for a nation to put up with.
The Greatbong Blog & Podcast 
Great article as always greatbong!
Excellent!
Pls exchange a sealed new iPad mini 16 GB WiFi+Cellular black color and price difference with iPad mini 2 in white.
Liked it
Really great article. You have pointed out so rightly… Pak journalist Abid Hussain’s article has been published in today’s Ei Samay (here is the link http://www.epaper.eisamay.com/Details.aspx?id=15322&boxid=4591875). It reinforces the problem you have mentioned.
It’s always a political blame game for Pakistan that supersedes the real problem, the root cause of terrorism. They really don’t want to look into the mirror. I see in a facebook page ‘Muslims Are Not Terrorist” some people are directly blaming it either on India, or the CIA. Some have even ‘identified’ the dead (from a pic of 3 dead, bearded men) terrorists as ‘Jews’, while some say terrorists have no religion. If the last part is true then why blame India (and Hindus) for this? Most importantly, rational Muslims will not support terrorism and hatred against other communities but there is no denying that these terrorists groups call themselves Muslims and they do violent massacres all in the name of ‘Jihad’. They are certainly led astray by overdose of religion. Denying their religious identity will not change the truth. We won’t be able to find a solution to stop and eliminate terrorism from the earth.
I was shocked by the brutality of the incident at Peshawar. And searched internet to find out why most terrorists come from a partocular cummunity. Ther must be some reason. I found this article http://www.faithfreedom.org/oped/sina50413.htm. I don’t know how much to reply on this article. But can’t ignore it completely as well. I think it’s time now that we, unitedly, have probe deeper into the problem and find a solution instead of only mourning the death of these innocent children for 3 days and then carry on in life until that time when our children are attacked again.
great article as always.where the hell (wrong choice of words, i know, pun totally intended) do you find these video links?.
On the topic of the hell from where I find video links, here is a video where a Pakistani analyst argues that it was Hindus who did the Peshawar because fire is important to them. Apparently by this logic, the burning of Christians in Pakistan was also done by Hindus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D8E70sOF9M
Love the part where Masood says “Main is waqt kisi mazhab ko blame nahin karne ja raha, LEKIN….”
Facepalm.NOTE TO SELF…Must get his dope suppliers number and order those MAGIC MUSHROOMS.
On second thoughts…..somewhere the tehreek e taliban are going….pencho koi fayda nahi… saala mehnat hamnein ki aur credit ye india ko mil raha hai,,ham chilla chilla ke bol rahe hai but still these f wits are crediting india… lets just blow ourselves up.
amazing that the whole Veena Malik programme is taken seriously at all – and what were the learned moulvis doing watching a degenerate program like this? Pakistan’s ability to tie its policy into knots would be laughable if it were not that it has such tragic outcomes! Pak is more of a failed state than Afghanistan – and it has nuclear weapons! Wonder how much longer before some “terrorist” get their hands on one
More of this is to come, unless they start accepting the problem. Nobody in Pakistan is willing to talk about the elephant in the room. On the contrary, they try to brainwash us by saying that Islam is a religion of peace and harmony, and every single terrorist attack is an exception to this rule. And hopelessly, many of our pseudo-intellectuals are falling for this everyday.
And Taliban is indeed going to be mad that India stole credit for their hard work.
Are pakis on dope, its better to not expect a sane thing from pakis,our great secularjamat must learn this , pakis blame everything to hindus( not india beacause many muslims also live here) ,
Spot On
After having retweeted “the good” behavior of Dada dont you think you should remove the bare chested colored photo of dada shouting expletives on the website?
From being uncultured to bhadralog. Great transition.
I see this “blame-dropping” tendency among Pakistanis as a barometer of their insecurity.
Sometimes it is very hard to say “it is my own damn fault”, and it is easier to blame someone else. That is most likely what is at play in these utterances in Pakistan.
Many in India find this kind of “blame-dropping” to be an expression of anti-India and anti-Hindu sentiments.
Many people outside India think this “blame-dropping” is the Pakistani Army’s way of publicly complaining about things it can’t otherwise talk about – such as the routine beatings it endures from the Indian Army in the Neelum Valley, etc…
Either ways – the phenomena is persistent suggesting that there is a deeper aspect to it.
I think after the transition to Modi in India, this kind of behaviour in Pakistan will increase as their insecurities will peak. Even if Modi does not initiate a war against Pakistan, merely increasing India’s rate of economic development disables Pakistan’s attempts at a sense of military parity.
I think one can anticipate a gradual decline in Indo-Pak ties as Modi is credited for India (like the rest of the world) making its way out of the great recession.
I just could not believe this video of Veena Malik. Having lived outside Pakistan for the last 10 yrs I had been hearing stories of how religious sitcoms and religous talk shows have become popular in Pakistan but this clip from Veena Malik is a something totally mind blowing.
I am not sure what depths will Pakistan sink to before it will wake up.