December 16 curse: Pakistan lost a part in 1971, now losing all to terror

We had to bury 134 of Jinnah’s sons and daughters on December 16th – this is war ladies and gentlemen. War for Jinnah’s Pakistan and its identity.

Shehbaz Sharif, chief minister of Punjab (Pakistan). 

Moments later, he tweeted again:

Blood of our children has drawn a RED LINE - anyone who stands on d side of barbarianism, hate, terror & obscurantism is NOT on OUR SIDE -SS

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) December 15, 2015

And then he pledged to win back Jinnah’s Pakistan.

As long as I live, I shall b guided by their sacrifice... I give u my word that I shall strive to regain Jinnah's Pakistan for all of us ...

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) December 15, 2015

December 16 is now etched in the minds of another generation of Pakistan. 

Forty-four years ago, on December 16, 1971,  Pakistan was split in two and Bangladesh was born. 93,000 Pakistanis soldiers, including Lt Gen AAK Niazi, were taken prisoners of war by the Indian Army in Dhaka.

The massacre of 150 children and teachers at Army Public School Peshawar on December 16, 2014 shocked the nation and the region. One expected Pakistan to declare war on terror in the right earnest and join the world in combating the evil.

However, Pakistan’s war on terror remains as lopsided as it was pre-Army Public School massacre Peshawar.

It is not just India that has complained of Pakistan army and ISI differentiating between good and bad terrorists. Pakistan’s other neighbour - Afghanistan - is as aghast with Pakistan’s blatant double standards.

Afghanistan’s president Ashraf Ghani tried to cosy up to Pakistan hoping it would prevent Taliban from targeting his country. But after a series of Pakistan sponsored-terror attacks, including the latest one on the Kandahar air field, realities appears to have dawned on him too. He too has now said Pakistan is waging war on Afghanistan through other means.

The question that has shocked the region is just how two-faced can Pakistan be. When the Taliban were attacking the Kandahar airport, beheading and killing mercilessly, Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif was still claiming that Afghanistan’s enemies are Pakistan’s enemies.

Terror, virtually across the world, has Pakistan's fingerprints on it. From Tashfeen Malik’s involvement in the San Bernadino terror strike in the United States to Lashkar-e-Taiba plotting to target a Danish newspaper, to Kandahar and terror in India, there is a Pakistani hand in global terror. It is not without reason that Pakistan is called the terror epicentre of the world.

If Pakistan has learnt a lesson from the Army Public School Peshawar massacre, it must go after terror in all its forms. Dear Mr Shehbaz Sharif, you could begin by cleaning your backyard – from Lashkar-e-Taiba’s Hafiz Muhammed Saeed in Muridke to Jaish-E-Muhammed’s Masud Azhar in Bahawalpur.

That is if Islamabad genuinely wants to reclaim Jinnah’s Pakistan from Hafiz Saeed’s Pakistan.