Who is responsible for the appearance of Pakistani-Americans who train in Pakistan to attack America? Continuing our coverage of the Pakistani reaction to the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, these two editorials reflect Pakistan’s internal debate on the subject.
The first editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post argues that the fault is squarely that of the United States, for creating the terrorist menace that kicked the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. The editorial says in part:
By highlighting the native roots or ethnicity of terrorist suspects, they conveniently disown their own responsibility, blaming others and evading blame that they rightly and squarely deserve. If one of their nationals, whether by birth or residence, is found to be involved in a terrorist act, it is they themselves that are accountable for the evil deed, and by every canon of logic, they are liable for it and must face the slur that they so deceitfully pass on to his country of origin.
The perpetrators of the 9/11 holocaust may have been Saudis and Egyptians, but their countries of origin had nothing to do with their vile deeds. They had all been living in the West. They had all studied in Western universities. They had plotted their evil strike in the German city of Hamburg. And they had all trained in American aviation academies. None other that the German and American authorities should be held to account for their horrible acts.
On the other end of the spectrum is this editorial from The Daily Jang headlined Pakistan Must Confront its Export of Terrorism. The editorial urges Pakistanis to get to the bottom of why so many people in other countries regard Pakistanis with derision – and why so many in the country become terrorists.
The Daily Jang editorial says in part:
While exports from Pakistan encompass many spheres, there is one product that our country sends into the world in larger and larger quantities. It’s an item that unfortunately, brings in no financial benefit or goodwill. It often seems today that what we export most is terrorism. The arrest in New York of a Pakistan-American, even as he boarded a plane that would have taken him to Dubai, is confirmation of this in the eyes of the world. Even if we as Pakistanis know that most people in our country oppose terrorism and have no sympathy for those who make a mission of killing, the fact is that many people in other countries see Pakistanis as terrorists.
The story of an educated young man of Pakistani origin in New York, from a wealthy background and a prominent family, who appears to have been willing to risk so much by planting a bomb intended to kill ordinary men, women and children, should serve as a warning: these are the kind of problems we have allowed to fester in our midst. Only by changing this can we hope to move toward a brighter future and a better image for Pakistan.
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