Mercy, Army & TTP

Do not fight, in the name of Allah…

In the name of Allah, do not fight…

In the name of Allah, stop fighting…

These are the merciful pleas of our nation today to the TTP. The politicians, media and civil society, all are resonating this message in various tones according to their secularism or religiosity.

Today, we all have a merciful heart, which can feel the pain, horror and cruelty of persecution, terrorism and death. Alas, we were all sleeping mercilessly only a few years ago.

We felt no mercy when Pakistan made a u-turn on the Afghan Taliban after 9/11 and handed over the Afghan diplomats and soldiers one after the other to be tied, blindfolded, gagged and kicked into prisons. Have you ever read the story of the handover of Mullah Zaeef, formal Afghan ambassador to Pakistan, or were you too busy reading about Daniel Pearl only?

We felt no mercy when eighty children of a madrassah in the North-West Pakistan were killed at Fajr time in an airstrike by the Americans. Can you imagine what those eighty children must have been doing at Fajr time? Doing Wuzu. Praying Fajr. Reciting Quran. Blast! They all died. Did the world protest for them or was everybody waiting for the All Saints Church to explode in Peshawar in 2013 for everyone to come out of their houses and express anguish?

We felt no mercy when Aafia Siddiqui was hooded, drugged and whisked away along with her three children from Karachi to Afghanistan and from there to America. Her six month old baby fell and died during the snatching and pickup. You know what? Only fifteen years ago, after making the nuclear explosion in May 1998, we boasted that Pakistan had now become unbeatable. I was one of those proud too. Ha, ha, ha! How funny and sorry that statement seems now. We cannot protect our people, we cannot protect our land and we cannot protect our ideology. I have a great idea. We better donate our nuclear power to Iran, for they have something which we do not have. A spine!

2001…2002…2003…2004…2005…2006…2007…

Seven years, and someone’s patience ran out…so they hit back. Now, we remember ‘mercy’.

They target-killed America appeaser politicians, even if surrounding civilians went down along with them. They target-killed our armed forces, for supporting the American war-on-terror, even if surrounding civilians went down along with them. They target-killed anybody who put forward the American agenda, even if surrounding civilians went down along with them.

Is it human to do so?

585 A.C., 6 Hijri - The Treaty of Hudaibiyah, Clause 4: If anyone from Quraish goes over to Muhammed Pbuh without his guardians permission, meaning a fugitive, he should be sent back to the Quraish, but should any of Muhammed’s followers return to the Quraish, he shall not be sent back.

This clause greatly inflamed the Muslims. However, Prophet Muhammed Pbuh agreed to all the conditions of the Treaty of Hudaibiyah in the long-term interest of the Muslims. The appeasers of participation in the American war-on-terror refer to this treaty with the Quraish with a great gusto in hope of gathering support for cooperation with America. So let us see what happened forth.

“It was during this time while the treaty was being written that Abu Jandal RA, Suhail’s son, appeared on the scene. He was brutally chained and was staggering with hardship and exhaustion. The Prophet Pbuh and his Companions were moved to pity and tried to secure his release but Suhail was unyielding and said, ‘To signify that you are faithful to your contract, an opportunity has just arrived’. The Prophet Pbuh said, ‘But the treaty is not signed when your son entered the camp’. Upon this, he burst forth and said, ‘But the terms of the treaty were agreed upon’. It was indeed an anxious moment.

On one hand, Abu Jandal RA was lamenting at the top of his voice…but on the other hand, the faithful engagement was also considered to be necessary, above all other considerations.

The Prophet’s Pbuh heart was filled with sympathy, but he wanted to honor his words at all costs. He consoled Abu Jandal RA and said, ‘Be patient, resign yourself to the Will of Allah. Allah is going to provide for you and your helpless companions relief and means of escape. We have concluded a peace treaty with them and we have taken the pledge in the Name of Allah. We are, therefore, under no circumstances prepared to break it’…

After the Prophet Pbuh had reached Madinah, Abu Baseer RA, who had escaped from the Quraish, came to him as a Muslim. The Quraish sent two men demanding his return, so the Prophet Pbuh handed him over to them.

On the way to Makkah, Abu Baseer RA managed to kill one of them, and the other one fled to Madinah with Abu Baseer RA in pursuit. When he reached the Prophet Pbuh, he said, ‘Your obligation is over and Allah has freed you from it. You duly handed me over to the men, and Allah has rescued me from them’. The Prophet Pbuh said, ‘Woe to his mother, he would have kindled a war if there had been others with him’.

When he heard that, he knew he would be handed back to them, so he fled from Madinah and went as far as Saiful-Bahr.

The other Muslims who were oppressed in Makkah began to escape to Abu Baseer RA. He was joined by Abu Jandal RA and others until a fair-sized colony was formed and soon sought revenge on the Quraish and started to intercept their caravans.

The pagans of Makkah finding themselves unable to control those exiled colonists, begged the Prophet Pbuh to do away with the clause which governed the return of these persons. They begged him by Allah…”    

Ahan! So now the Americans want a peace treaty with the Taliban so that they can make a safe exit in 2014?

And we make fun of the capabilities and driven emotions of the shalwar, kameez and sandal clad TTP, surviving in the cold weather and the rugged mountains, who managed to hit our GHQ, Mehran Airbase, Marriott Hotel, D.I.Khan and Bannu Jails?

Not that it makes me happy, to see two brothers fighting each other tooth and nail and destroying our own assets and facilities upon the plotting of a neighborhood gangster. So I will beg too.

Dear Army and TTP, stop fighting. You are both Muslims. You are both soldiers. You are both our sons. You are an asset to each other. Why are you fighting each other?

The younger brother wants one thing from the elder brother, and so do many of the Pakistanis. You are very capable, very brave and very intelligent. Do you really need to hang on to America to maintain the brilliance of your fighting power? We have gained enough in our alliance with America, but now we are losing more than we have gained. I beg you to change our foreign policy and anchoring. There are other nations that we can look towards for technical assets, technical training and technical support. Why America? Even if the others are a few notches less than America in precision, that is okay! Remember the victory of Battle of Badr and the defeat of Battle of Hunain? Expertise and resources can be compromised but faith and direction cannot be compromised.

Dear Christians, Hindus and other non-Muslims, this war is not against you but you are getting trodden in the way. We Muslims too have and are continuously bearing the brunt of the so-called war-on-terror. You have stood with us on many occasions like showing support for Aafia Siddiqui. Beware that these attacks on you are most probably not by the TTP, as they have denied it, but by those against peace in Pakistan. We share your agony, but many do not share our agony. Eighty-three of your precious lives have been lost on September 22, 2013, and our local media to the international media to the UN are resounding the protest, and rightfully so! Twenty thousand plus precious Muslim lives were burnt to death in an ancient style torture in Burma 2012, and guess what? It was not allowed to be reported even on the Muslim media! This is the height of oppression and oppression breeds retaliation. Stop the oppression, stop the retaliation.