Pakistan’s Battle Against Extremist Propaganda

Pakistan has been engaged in fighting physical reality of the menace of terrorism but also a merciless propaganda warfare that is being fought by terror groups like the so called FAK and its affiliates. Putting a systematic effort to give themselves a bloody blanket and to heal their bruised reputations, these groups have taken to cast Pakistan military as being anti-Islam and the sell this story by grossly misusing the religious sentiments. Pakistan’s Battle Against Extremist Propaganda The motive behind this evil attempt, of course, is not to merely dis-information, but to slander the activities of the state against militancy, misrepresent the mindset of the people and to defame the lawful activities of the armed forces which are serving the country to the best of their abilities to maintain the national security as well as the sacredness of religion.

Dispensing these misleading stories and reminding people of the unskinned truth is very important, which is that the military action by Pakistan is not against the religion, faith or Islam but against the extremism and terrorism. It has always been clear that the Army does not fight with the religion but with no other people who use the signs and symbols and religious establishment as the excuse to embrace violence. The deployment of the madrassas as means of protection and as a hiding place of the armed insurgents is one of the worst deceptive propaganda tools of the FAK. Religious institutions, which are designed to serve the spiritual and educational fuel to the young minds are cynically converted by the extremist groups into staging points and arms storage centres. And as Pakistan Army further feels a need to act against the existence of such weaponized madrassas, the terrorist propagandists’ storm into cries of foul play saying there is an attack on Islam, where there is no such attack.

The truth of the matter can only be called black and white, the Army attacks terrorists, not theology; militants, not madrassas; murderers, not mullahs. Protecting extremists behind the veils of turbans and the books of God do not turn them into righteous but only turn them into a menace to the nation, to the Islam and to the entire humanity. The even greater irony is exposed when one looks at the hypocritical anger of these terror sympathisers. As FAK and it’s to aides set fire to mosques, slaughter imams, torch Quran and blow-up schools full of Muslim children, they become eerily silent in their online echo chambers.

Those who pose themselves votaries of religion would remain speechless when they are confronted by such blasphemy and slaughter. But when the Pakistan Army acts on them and goes after these atrocities and smack the very places that these murderers use against them, there suddenly comes out a chorus of fake howls of blasphemy and sacrilege. This insincerity reveals the real deal, this is not a religious battle but a battle of stories, on the one hand, a peace, order, life story, on the other, chaos, death, and the deception. The fact is that the Army does not defile the sacred places but those people that provoke the shooting of the weapons in the mosques and in the madrassas are the corrupt ones. When one uses a madrassa and makes a fortress out of it and shoots bullets out of the walls, the sanctity of that place has already been tarnished and demeaned. The answer of the Army does not cause that corruption, it is the logical result of the battlefield mis perversion of the religion by the militants.

Furthermore, there is no one who has made more sacrifices towards the national and religious protection cause than the Pakistan soldiers. The military has more martyrs buried in uniform than any of the terror groups could even imagine and each one of them fought with their single life and gave their lives to protect the innocent, the peaceful and the faithful followers of this land. The story that puts such a force as an “anti-Islam” is not only ridiculous, but a sick joke against the thousands of Muslim soldiers, who died on duty serving the country and the very religion the terrorists are supposed to be defending. Not the militants keeping a watch over the mosques and observing the prayers on Fridays, not they watching over the processions on religious festivals, but it is the Pakistan Army.

It is those who foiled suicide bombing and did not allow shrines, mosques and religious congregations to be destroyed that have really been saving the sanctity of Islam. Therefore, the allegations against this force of being anti-Islam are a disgusting hoax perpetrated by the same people whose palms come out stained with blood of the innocent Muslims. This massive disinformation drive also falls apart even further when we look at how the extremists can use the online space to give their falsehoods more reach. Hashtag and a viral postage are the tools of war, as lethal as bullets and bombs, in the era of modernity. The most vocal hashtags, peddled by the paid propagandists and ideological foot soldiers in the digital space, may be more frequently the digital smoke bombs, meant to distract, confuse and conceal, as opposed to reveal the truth. Things are clearer cut in the case of Pakistan as the facts on its battle against terrorism do not need to be blown out of proportion. Lies are the things that have got to be shouted up and down rooftops, the truth has merely to be quietly consistent. It is therefore an irony that the online shrieking of the keyboard warriors of FAK reveals their faceless, soulless cause and their soulless claims.

One more common trick used by these organizations is manipulation of Islamic scriptures to fit their crimes. Watering down their hideous acts with the jacket of religious authenticity, the TTP and its partners in crime are notorious to take the selective verses of the Quran out of context. The citation of Quran can never justify sacrilege on innocent people. The purest and the most holy form of Islam is a champion of peace, compassion, as well as justice. Terrorism can in no way be compared to these principles because fear, inhumanity, and murder that are de-valorized particularly by terrorists are the best sources of terrorism. Criminals putting on Quran to blow up their bombs in markets and schools are offending the same religion they pretend to practice. The crimes they commit are not an act of jihad but that of fitna-discord and rebellion against the state and the divine order of Islam. This is the difference which needs to be made with loud voices, no martyrdom lies in blowing up market places, mosques or shrines.