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July 9, 2021
Imagine a country where a precocious adolescent, all bright-eyed and full of lofty dreams as most kids her age, is shot in the head by a terrorist. A mere school-going child, guilty of nothing more than advocating for young girls to achieve a basic, universal right – the right to attain education. And advocate she did. Despite being repeatedly threatened by vicious forces violently opposed to women appearing anywhere in public life, let alone venturing to school, she did not cower. Even after she was shot.
You would think that such a barbaric event, especially in a country rocked by terrorism with thousands having been slain over the years, would unite the nation in grief and introspection. And for a brief while it did.
Clarifying perspectives, defeating terrorism
July 1, 2021
With the situation in Afghanistan now reaching a climatic point as the US finalizes its troop withdrawal, Pakistan will inevitably have to deal with a possible influx of militants and an increase in terrorism in the region.
The question to be asked is precisely what Pakistan’s stance on terrorism and groups such as Al-Qaeda is. Do we really believe that Osama bin Laden, who created Al-Qaeda as an organization which killed thousands of people in nations around the world, was a martyr or a hero of some kind? While the US action in lifting him off Pakistani soil is of course controversial, this does not change the fact that Pakistan must decide clearly, once and for all, if Bin Laden and others like him are heroes or villains.