Mullah bashing has become very fashionable in the drawing rooms of the so-called secular and liberal Pakistanis. Many of this clan are either themselves in power or are the beneficiaries of power.

In almost every discussion in these drawing rooms on the serious problems Pakistan is facing today, the first and the foremost issue mentioned is the rise of religious extremism.  Thus, there are demands ranging from lynching all the “Taliban Types” to negotiating with them to reach some kind of peace.

There is no denying the fact that religious extremism is doing a great deal of damage to the country.  But let’s conduct a small “thought experiment”.  Imagine that all religious extremists have either been wiped out or have seen the light and converted to law-abiding citizens of Pakistan. What will change in such a scenario?

Well, certainly the suicide attacks will stop. Also the murderous drone attacks will halt.  Women’s life in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will improve somewhat (not that their life was a bed of roses when there were no Taliban).

What else will change?  Will the Baloch hug and kiss the army and the civilian leaders? What about the power and gas crisis? I do not see 6,000 MW of power shortage disappear or a huge surge of gas flowing the pipelines with the burial of the last bad guy carrying a Kalashnikov. Also, no sane person would expect that the political malaise and the dirt-poor governance would improve as a result of de-Talibanisation.  Will the Pakistan army, freed from the chore of fighting the bad guys, go back to the barracks and behave like the army of Switzerland? I see no chartered planes bringing back tons of cash from Swiss banks.

So, it will be business as usual, only the Taliban will be out of business.

The truth is that the Talibanisation of Pakistan is not the cause but the symptom of the problem. Religious extremists do not descend from the sky with bombs strapped to their chests. Every effect has a cause, and the responsibility for the creation of the bigots falls squarely on those who call themselves secular and liberal.

Look at the civilian and military governments in place since 1947.  With the exception of General Ziaul Haq all other rulers were liberal and secular.  From Mr. Jinnah to Gen. Ayub Khan, from Mr. Z. A. Bhutto to Gen. Pervez Musharraf and from Mr. Nawaz Sharif to Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, they were far from being religious fundamentalists. The responsibility for driving the first nail in the coffin of religious intolerance rests squarely with Mr. Bhutto who bent over backwards to accommodate the small number of religious fanatics by banning alcohol and declaring Ahmedis as non-Muslims. He refused to hold re-elections in the very few constituencies where there were serious allegations of rigging. There is little doubt that the PPP would have won those seats even if there was re-polling.

Following the good riddance from Ziaul Haq, courtesy his love for mangoes, our ‘liberal’ leaders did not lift a finger to repeal the barbarous blasphemy laws. Both the military and civilian rulers failed to resolve the problems facing the common man.  And when some young people in Balochistan rose up against the injustices in their province they were made to simply disappear from the face of the earth.  These are the acts of self-serving rulers and not those of true liberals.

The only true liberals and seculars of the country are the people of Pakistan who continue to vote for non-religious political parties. They understand that choosing even a putatively liberal and secular party is better than handing over the country to those who stand for the imposition of their version of a religion.

How long will it be before the people’s hope and optimism runs out?

Mend your ways rulers, you, all-powerful, who push aside the humans like sheep when you travel in your cars with windows blackened and sirens screaming while your henchmen point automatic weapons at the same people who voted you into power.

You who are as dreadful as the Taliban; just that the mode of violence is different.