Year later, has Islamabad learnt from PeshawarIJ
If the gangrape in Delhi on December 16, 2012 stirred the national conscience in India and spurred a conversation on women's safety, across the border it was the school attack in Peshawar on December 16, 2014, that sounded alarm bells in Pakistan and compelled a re-think on terrorism. The question now is: In the one year since the bloody attack that claimed 151 lives, mostly of school children, how has the situation changedIJ It's a mixed bag — just like in India, where legal reforms for women's safety were introduced but progress on the ground has been slow. In Pakistan, the attack led to a rare nation-wide, blanket condemnation of terrorism, with even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif publicly vowing to end the disingenuous distinction between “good and bad Taliban”. A National Action Plan to wipe out terrorism was drawn up and the Constitution amended to allow military court to try civilians, ostensibly to bypass a criminal justice system that’s vulnerable to external manipulation. The unofficial moratorium on carrying out death sentences was lifted and eight militants, convicted for their role in the school attack, were hanged to death. The Government also carried out a limited crackdown on some terror groups and there has been a general consensus that domestic terror has dropped in these past 12 months.
However, there is limited evidence to suggest that Pakistan is changing its approach to Islamist militants and the role they play in furthering the state's foreign policy. Instead, many believe that the state is using the tragedy to justify extraordinary measures against its rivals. For example, apart from the eight militants hanged for the school attack, more than 300 others have been executed this year alone. Pakistan says they are all terrorists but many are suspicious. Similarly, the Pakistan Army's offensive in the tribal areas and along the borders with Afghanistan, Zarb-e-Azb, which started a few months before the attack, received a boost after December 16, 2014, and has now been called a “befitting tribute” to the Peshawar victims by the Army chief, remains shrouded in mystery. The tribal areas are a black hole of information and there's no way to independently verify the information put out by the military's PR wing. But there are legitimate concerns that the Army is using the operation to target only specific groups anti-Government groups while avoiding those working against India or Afghanistan. Even if one believes that the Zarb-e-Azb has flushed out militants from safe havens in North and South Waziristan, there's nothing to suggest that, across the country, the authorities are shutting down terror dens in the heart of Punjab. Yet, it is here that the Islamist monster is being nurtured — partly on Saudi money and partly by the Government of Pakistan. This explains why, for instance, the radical cleric of the notorious lal Masjid is once again delivering Friday sermons, even though closing institutions which peddle extremist views is part of the National Action Plan.