Afghanistan Times
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October 02 is the International Day of Non-Violence. This is the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the flag-bearer of Indian independence movement and non-violence. This is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind and non-violence, no doubt, is mightiest than the deadliest weapons, which sometimes are called tools of deterrence. If someone wants to deter wars and conflicts, non-violence is an effective instrument. Nevertheless, this is extremely shocking that despite the spread of knowledge and turning into the age of global village, violence has been on the rise. Terrorism has been eroding frontiers and turning millions of people into refugees besides unleashing death and destruction across the world particularly the Muslim world. When it comes to non-violence, we have Bacha Khan, but his land and people have been under attack of violent forces—the Taliban. The problem is that the advocates of peace and non-violence are being targeted in our region. This is not happening without a reason and vacuously rather terrorism is being supported by certain states for their foreign policy designs. Moreover, this is troublesome that when millions have been died in terrorism, it takes the United Nations 15 years to define terrorism. In the absence of a unanimous definition of terrorism in the UN is responsible for the spread of terrorism. There is no effective war on terror as those who apparently stand for anti-terrorism has been exploiting terror for their international and region designs. Therefore, the war on terror led by the United States couldn’t be called war on terror rather war for terror, particularly if someone wants to be just with the definition of terrorism. The concept of good terrorism and bad terrorism is ludicrous and insane. But this is happening in our part of the world. There is a state that divides terrorism into two categories—good terrorism and bad terrorism, and the entire world just an onlooker. The tale of death and destruction is going on with different phases in our world. The entire world knows who is behind this death and destruction of Afghans, but alas, no one has the guts to stand for anti-terrorism. The stark fact is that during the past 14 years, the United Nations and the major world powers couldn’t agree on a shared definition of terrorism and this is where our neighboring countries exploit the situation. Here it wouldn’t be incongruous if the remarks of Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on terrorism and the UN are quoted. When he was addressing the Indian community in San Jose, California, the US, after attending the UN General Assembly, he described terrorism as one of the biggest threats to the world and said if it has taken the UN 15 years to define terrorism, how many years will they take to fight it? The United Nations should send a crystal clear message of zero tolerance against terrorism. Ironically the United States can impose economic sanctions on Russia for the Ukraine crisis, but it is shying away to do the same with Pakistan to tame terrorism. When the forces of extremism are spilling the blood of Afghans both in Afghanistan and trans-Durand Line, the world is not taking a serious note of the seriousness of the situation and the duplicity of our neighboring state, which has been behind the bloodshed of Afghans/Pashtuns because in their development it sees its own existential threat, though which is totally a hallucination. The development of Afghanistan means peace in our neighboring countries, but the use of extremism and violence unfortunately doesn’t remain confined to the battlefield, but they have targeted our schools, colleges and education centers because they know that illiteracy, ignorance and denying rights to women create the petri dish and could flourish extremism that leads to violence. If the world truly wants a good riddance, the United Nations and the world major powers will have to stand united against those states which are openly supporting terrorism without any sense of fear from the international community.
