Waziristan once used to be one of the most beautiful areas of Pakistan, where people were happy with their limited earnings and resources. The population was divided into different tribes and enmities between these tribes never ended and thus it was both a tradition and the necessity among the tribesmen to carry guns. This condition was also responsible for an alternate tribal system of government because no government has ever become successful in promulgating and imposing the system of government there and even the British could not control the area and thus joined them together to form a tribal area called FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Area) which is still intact.
Less development, poverty, lack of infrastructure and lawlessness left thousands of families with struggle to earn their livelihood. A family, like all the families that existed there, was included of almost a dozen children and father’s income was not enough to feed them, let aside educating them or providing them with other facilities of life. But head of the family was sure that one of his sons was too much gifted and he should be educated but his dreams were always discouraged by his poor financial conditions.
Then he heard of a madrasa in a bigger town where children were not only given free education but they were also provided with free food and residence. Father happily sent his child to the madrasa dreaming of bright days of future when his son would change the fate of the family. As he did not have enough money to travel and visit his son, so the gap between his visits kept increasing. In one of his visits, he was informed that his son had left the place and he was not to be found anywhere. The sad father returned home with a heavy heart.
In one of such madrasas, a so-called religious scholar was busy in washing the brains of his young and teenage students with extremism and need of ‘Jihad’ against the infidels and all those who support these infidels. He was having a good supply of all those orphan-like kids who were left in the madrasa by their poor and helpless parents who were happy that at least their children were getting enough to eat. The environment was absolutely suitable for any such brain-molding.
There were such books that children were given in free, their motivating teacher was present with them all the time, telling them the sad and adrenaline-boosting stories of how their brothers were being killed brutally by the cruel enemy and they were shown how they would be rewarded in the hereafter if they presented themselves in this holy war. After efforts of years, these young minds willingly presented themselves to sacrifice their lives and be successful in this world and earn the paradise in the eternal life. Then we heard of a suicide attack that killed dozens of people, without any discrimination of enemy or friend.
Similarly, a drone attack killed 9 members of a family in which there were three women and 5 children. It was said that there were terrorists in the house but later on, the information was found to be incorrect and it was termed to be a technical error. The father of the family, who was left all alone in the world, was filled with anger and desire to revenge and fell victim to those militant groups who were recruiting such angry men.
It comes out that reasons for the birth of extremism or terrorism are poverty, lack of good education and heedless killings of innocents by drones or missiles on the name of security or war against terror.
The more you move to the bigger cities with more education, better job opportunities and security, there comes change in the thoughts and perceptions of people. Education tells them that such an act is against humanity and killing innocent people in a suicide attack is not supported by any kind of logic or our religious teachings. True teachings of Islam are also against suicide killing or killing others in the name of religion rather it suggests ways of settling down issues with peace and understanding. This fact has been repeatedly stated by the major religious scholars of Afghanistan and other Islamic countries of region.
Almost every intellectual knows that terrorism is not the problem; rather the reasons that give birth to the terrorism and extremism need to be eradicated. These are lack of education, poverty and lack of economic activities, and promotion of true Islamic teachings so that people may not be mislead on the name of Islam or religion by so-called religious scholars who are working there for their own hidden and heinous aims.
This fact can also be understood from the areas where militancy is at rise. The tribal areas of Pakistan, border provinces of Afghanistan where poverty and illiteracy are at max and other similar places around the world and they all show the similar trend of poverty, illiteracy and flagrant militancy and supply of arms responsible for this problem.
Very helpless one feels when he sees that the world powers are not treating the cause of a problem, rather they are trying all their best to finish the problem and when this is done once, its cause or base gives birth to it again and the game starts all over again. First there were Taliban, then came Al-Qaeda and then came Haqqani network and this series is not going to end here, there may be many more offspring of this.
US drones have killed very less militants in the tribal areas of Pakistan and their exact number cannot be told by American sources but local people know that more than 800 innocent and neutral citizens have been killed in these drones. In Afghanistan and Iraq, number of citizens killed in the war against terror is manifolds greater than that of the possible terrorists.
Billions of dollars have been spent on these drones, missile attacks, military interference in Afghanistan and Iraq on the name uprooting terrorism but nothing has changed but one thing is for sure; with the death of every innocent citizen in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan, the hate and anger rises against America and its allies and studies showed that America hit the bottom of popularity in these countries in the recent years.
The way to weed out this problem from its roots may be difficult, but certainly not impossible. First of all, all those attacks need to be stopped when you are not sure of your target and where the civilians are the most vulnerable of becoming a victim to these. Secondly, fractions of the money spent on weapons and war must be spent in the areas where the problem of extremism and terrorism is born to open new and plenty of schools, colleges universities and to make roads and improve the infrastructure and carry out all the possible steps to boost up economic activities so that financial conditions of people and area may improve and people start living a decent life, without considering terrorism or falling victim to the terror groups for earning a few hundred dollars in a month.
Some of the experts even suggest that institutes should be opened where true Islamic teachings by truly qualified religious scholars can be given as Islam stops the way of terrorism more intensely and its voice and teachings are honored and followed by people more than anyone or anything else.