By Shah Zaman Khan

Terrorism and militancy did exist in one form or the other in some parts of the world even in the distant past, but it became commonplace in the aftermath of 9/11. The danger that it has been posing to global peace and harmony is enormous.

We hear more often than not the phrases, such as "global war against terrorism". It proves that the menace is multi-faceted, multi-dimensional and not restricted to a particular country or nation. The scourge, its magnitude and severity is being witnessed in many parts of the world, especially in the Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Turkey. These countries are direct victims of most sophisticated acts of terrorism sponsored by extremist groups.

The brutal acts of terrorists have aroused serious concerns not only in these states but also all over the civilized world. Even the United States and the western countries, despite their superiority in technology, are not much safe from this menace.

Extremist outfits and networks of these savage acts are unfortunately found in the Muslim states. It is also a reality that in their so-called 'holy war against infidels' the majority of the terrorists as well as victims are no other than Muslims. So, it can be safely assumed that the militancy and terrorism unleashed by the extremist groups in the name of religion is more of self-hurting character than doing any harm to the perceived infidels.

The 'infidels' are more secure. They have fortified themselves against these threats with plenty of resources, skill, and military strength at their disposal. The truth is they are not only capable of defending themselves, but are also well entrenched to defeat and frustrate the acts of terrorism in an offensive way. Afghanistan is a case in point.

But what about frail and defenceless Muslim societies? They can neither defend themselves nor make any offensive, their loud rhetoric and persistent claims notwithstanding. So, the threat is directed more to the Muslim societies and states than the perceived foes of Islam and the Muslims.

The 'infidels' are comparatively safer. But are the Muslims too safe and secure? It is a soul-searching question, especially for the intelligentsia of the Muslim world. If we look at its magnitude and complexity besides the underlying factors and cobweb of hidden causes and reason of the threat posed by terrorism and militancy, we come to the conclusion that only gun power and hardware cannot serve as an ultimate means in the hands of man to rid mankind of the underlying dangers posed by the terrorists and militants.

There is no ideology involved in what the merchants of death and destruction are expounding and executing with so much vanity and pride. In fact, there is no clash between various groups of human beings wherever they live. If there is any such thing, it is the handiwork of those having false belief, or in other words, an impaired understanding of what they are doing. There are also hidden and in many cases material considerations involved in this fictional crusade.

No sane Muslim can buy the argument the masterminds or ideologues of terror and barbarity are advancing to justify wholesale carnage of innocent people in the name of a confused and utopian thought. Bleeding and pitting a man against another man is a severely punishable crime as prescribed in and strictly prohibited in all the faiths and creeds.

Unfortunately, today's Muslim world where a huge majority of people are followers of divine belief in peaceful co-existence, practise finest human values and believe in dignity of existence in this God's beautifully tailored and magically resplendent world, a few groups and individuals are bent upon making it a hell. They preach ideology of hatred and revenge. They are bringing ignominy and a bad name to the divine religion of Islam, its universal appeal of love and amity and more so to their own polity and societies.

The damage they are incurring on the good name of Islam is too high and no amount of protest or rational logic emanating even from within the Muslim societies can retrieve the loss. It will be too late if the serious thinking sections, intelligentsia and opinion making circles did not realize their responsibility of salvaging their society from vicious onslaughts of terrorists.

However, it is heartening that, of late, such a thinking is visible among the intellectuals and they are making efforts to portray a correct and true picture of their faith and its followers in the eyes of the non-Muslims at the intellectual level. It is imperative for them not to let society become a permanent hostage to deranged philosophy and self-destructive deeds of a handful of fanatics.

The glimpses of such thinking and aspirations were evident at a seminar jointly recently organized at Peshawar by the media cell of Fata secretariat and the international relations department of University of Peshawar. There were informative presentations, highly educative and constructive papers by prominent scholars and academics like Prof Qibla Aya, Dr Mohammad Farooq, Ross Masud Hussain, Dr Adnan Sarwar Khan and Col (retired) Yahya Effendi on "Phenomenon of terrorism: its implications for Pakistan and the Muslim World".

Almost all scholars were unanimous in their views that terrorism and its perpetrators were hurting more their fellow Muslims, their own compatriots than anybody else and that concerted endeavours should be made for a proper interaction with the scholars, media, academics and opinion makers in the West to dispel the wrong but deep rooted misconceptions about the religion of Islam and the Muslims.

There was special emphasis on inter-faith contacts between Muslim and Christian societies of the West for a better understanding of each other which, in the view of the scholars, would go a long way in making this universe a peaceful and prosperous place free from terror, religious feud, communal or caste and creed prejudices. They thought that all such efforts would benefit Muslims more than non-Muslims in today's world in which no nation or state could live in isolation or self-imposed seclusion.

The NWFP Governor, Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, who spoke in a broader way on various aspects of the military action against the terrorists and foreign militants in the tribal areas, enlightened the audience with useful information during the question-answer session.

One hopes that the media and educational institutions would take a leaf from the success of this seminar and make all out efforts to hold seminars and academic discussions on the scourge of terrorism in order to enlighten the common people on this important issue which has almost affected the whole world today. With little, but sincere efforts of our religious scholars, university teachers, academia and the media many of those who have gone astray because of lack of understanding can be reformed and converted into positive thinking and constructive human beings.

The writer is director-general, FATA.