The massacre in Pakistan

Last week, a squad of six Talibans
stormed an Army-run school in
Peshawar, Pakistan, and slaughtered 141
persons, 132 of them schoolchildren.
Doctors said the children, some as young
as five years, were all shot either in the
head or the chest. Afghan Taliban cruelty
seems to have risen to incredible heights
since the ascendancy of its new leader,
Maulana Fazlullah who, like Boko
Haram’s Abubakar Shekau, glories in
ruthless bloodletting.
A shocked world expectedly expressed
revulsion. From Britain, Prime Minister
David Cameron condemned the
“horrifying targeting of children.” The
United States President, Barack Obama,
remarked that the Taliban has once more
displayed its depravity.
We commend the people of Peshawar
who have bravely defied the threats of the
Taliban and gathered to honour the
victims with flowers and mementos.
Nigerians know what this sad incident
feels like because the Pakistani Taliban
and the Nigerian Boko Haram are two
sides of the same coin. They are one and
the same in bloodthirstiness and
psychopathic violence. Indeed, Boko
Haram is known also as the Nigerian
Taliban. Both sides share the same
antipathy to Western education. It is,
therefore, not surprising they attacked the
school.
We understand the pain and anguish of
the Pakistani people. They have had to
bear previous, numerous Taliban
bloodshed, but the peculiarity of this case
is that most Pakistanis could not reconcile
Taliban politics with the massacre of in­
nocent children. All the signs and protests
seem to indicate they are not taking this
massacre lying low at all, and agitation
for revenge has almost begun.
There is a sign that the Pakistani
government, in a fit of anger, has now
lifted a moratorium on death sentences by
which more than 500 Taliban terrorists
might soon be executed. Much as this
might assuage some feelings and look
like the Talibans’ just recompense for
their dastardly act, we urge the Pakistanis
to reflect deeply on this move. Policy
change at a time of emotional upset is
never rational.
Taliban watchers seem unanimous that
the group has been in a state of rage
owing to its recent reverses on the
battlefield. It is lashing out hard to show
that it is still capable of causing as much
damage as it wishes. The answer to that
is that the Pakistani Army should not re­
lent. Indeed, the massacre of those
innocent children should serve as an
impetus to move more strongly against
the Taliban with a view to finally seeing to
its final destruction or disbandment.
Thus, the backlash from the Peshawar
massacre of innocent persons seems to
have released vital energies against the
Taliban. As one Pakistani put it, “the
mood of the entire nation toward the Tali­
ban was always of hatred, but there was
an element of fear attached to it. This
time, after they killed our children, the
anger and sorrow have deepened so
much that the fear has been eliminated.
Every Pakistani is angry enough to forget
the fear of the Taliban. Everyone is
demanding action against them.”
We sympathise with the people and
government of Pakistan on this horrible
incident. The excesses of the Taliban and
by extension, Boko Haram, may finally be
their undoing. Many Pakistanis who had
on religious grounds been tolerant of the
jihadists now seem totally against them.
The same reaction greeted the Boko
Haram attack on the Kano Central
Mosque where it killed 120 Muslim
worshippers. Like all totalitarian and
extremist organisations in history, they
will eventually be destroyed by their own
internal contradictions. It is only a matter
of time.