By Qamar Bashir
The New Year celebrations in the USA were marred by tragedy when a barbaric act of terrorism in New Orleans claimed the lives of at least 10 holidaymakers and injured 30 more. This heinous attack serves as a stark reminder that terrorism, driven by intolerant and extremist ideologies, can strike anywhere in the world and kill innocent citizens or individuals who, by any measure, had no connection to any conflict or issue that could justify such violence. There is no justification for such barbarity, regardless of the motive
or alleged rationale.
The perpetrator, reportedly an American citizen of Middle Eastern descent, used a truck
as a lethal weapon. The vehicle was allegedly displaying an ISIS flag, potentially
signaling allegiance to the group's hateful ideology, which may have been triggered by
the killing of innocent Palestinians in Gaza. However, even if the attack was meant to
avenge the killing of innocent citizens in Palestine, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Iran,
or Ukraine, targeting innocent civilians elsewhere is devoid of logic or justification.
Killing innocent people, regardless of the motive—whether revenge or hatred—is
unjustifiable. While this statement may seem simple and straightforward, humanity,
unfortunately, is not. The complexities of ideology, emotion, and vengeance often cloud
judgment, leading to actions that perpetuate cycles of violence and suffering.
In this state of clouded negativity, they abandon logic, ignore the universal message of
peace promoted by almost every religion, and forget the lessons of peaceful coexistence
taught in schools, mosques, synagogues, and churches. Instead, they succumb to the
destructive influence of hatred and violence.
In this warped state of mind, they derive a twisted sense of pleasure and satisfaction from
inflicting wounds, causing suffering, or even taking lives—targeting anyone they can..
It is deeply unfortunate that some societies and countries assume for themselves the
authority to destroy nations, obliterate communities, demolish homes, and carry out drone
strikes around the world—all without judicial oversight or accountability. Operating with
a self-assumed license to kill, they often escape scrutiny or consequences for their
actions.
Even more deplorable is the fact that those who make these decisions to use force and
wreak havoc on countries, societies, and communities remain untouched and
unaccountable. Meanwhile, innocent citizens—who played no role in these decisions and
had no direct or indirect involvement in any acts of violence—become the victims of
such kinetic actions.
Pakistan has been one of the worst victims of terrorism—domestic, regional, and
international. Since the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan, the country has lost over 80,000
lives, including members of its security forces and countless innocent citizens. Even
today, there is no respite, as acts of terrorism continue to claim lives almost daily,
involving security forces, terrorists, separatists, and innocent civilians.
Unfortunately, the world will remain entangled in the grip of this multi-headed, deadly
python until we fundamentally change our strategies and tactics for dealing with
unfavorable regimes or governments. Without a shift in approach, the cycle of violence
and suffering will persist, leaving nations wounded and societies fractured.
The use of non-state actors to achieve kinetic and political objectives—most notably
during the effort to push back the USSR from Afghanistan—marked the inception of
hateful, religiously tainted ideologies. The United States led the conceptualization and
execution of this strategy, which involved spreading the lethal and poisonous ideology of
"Islamic Jihad." Muslims from across the globe were encouraged to join the fight against
the "Russian infidels."
To bolster this movement, sociological engineering was employed, including altering
school curricula to emphasize the importance of Jihad and recruit fighters. Various
militant outfits were created to serve as role models, with figures like Osama Bin Laden
being elevated as heroes under a carefully crafted strategy. This approach proved
immensely successful in repelling and ultimately dismantling the USSR.
However, the success of this model set a dangerous precedent. It was later employed to
destabilize and destroy societies in Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and beyond.
These militant assets—equipped with weapons, fueled by ideology, and funded by
seemingly unlimited resources—became forces intoxicated by power and violence. With
unrestrained authority over their domains, these groups perpetuated conflict and sought
new wars to sustain their insatiable appetite for chaos and terror.
The use of unconventional, unethical, and informal war tactics is perhaps the root cause
of much of the pain and suffering endured by innocent people around the
world—individuals who have no connection to acts of brutality or violence. These tactics
have inflicted untold sorrow, tears, and anguish on innocent citizens in countries like
France, the UK, the USA, Pakistan, and India. Thousands of lives have been shattered,
leaving countless people with lifelong wounds—whether physical, emotional, or
both—suffered by themselves or their loved ones.
While this may not be the sole cause, it is undoubtedly a significant factor among the
many reasons behind these heinous and abhorrent acts of violence. Terrorism
indiscriminately harms people of all religions—be it Islam, Judaism, Christianity,
Hinduism, or others. It takes the lives of individuals across racial lines—white, Black,
Asian, or others—and targets people of all ethnicities, philosophies, and perspectives,
without distinction or discrimination.
The global community must address this issue with urgency. At the national, regional,
and international levels, laws and protocols should be established to prohibit the use of
non-state actors as kinetic assets. Nations must desist from arming such groups with
ideological and kinetic tools of destruction. The world must return to conventional and
formal warfare, to be used only as a last resort in cases of extreme necessity or
compulsion.
By ceasing the practice of empowering contractors or raising militant organizations to
achieve strategic or ideological objectives, the international community could take a
significant step toward preventing the indiscriminate killing of innocent people. This shift
could help reduce the pain, agony, despair, and helplessness that so often plague innocent
citizens across the globe.
