WHEN militants, many of them foreigners of Uzbek, Arab and Chechen origin, undertake a suicide attack inside Pakistan, killing and maiming innocent non-combatant citizens, these acts are treated deja vu by the religio-political parties.

When American pilotless aircraft, the drones, zero in on and attack the masterminds of these suicide attacks, in the tribal area, the religio-political parties raise a storm of protest on the grounds that the sovereignty of Pakistan has been threatened.

The media too, inadvertently, follows the line of the religio-political parties and creates a hype and makes it look as if the Americans have done great harm to Pakistan while the other set of foreigners, i.e. Arab, Chechen, Uzbek militants, have played no role in a persistent effort to destabilise Pakistan.

Probably, the media and, in turn, the general public forget that the vast majority of the militant leaders that plan suicide attacks inside Pakistan are the former students of the seminaries controlled by the leaders who are in the forefront to raise a storm of protests, when an isolated drone attack takes place by the Americans but these leaders observe absolute silence when the militants carry out suicide attacks that inflict devastating damage on Pakistan's human and material assets.

Sovereignty of Pakistan is being threatened by the foreigners in the form of militants for the past eight years, resulting in weakening the very foundation of the country.

Seen neutrally, it will dawn on critics of the drone attacks that the Americans are assisting Pakistan by annihilating the masterminds that sit in the tribal areas, plan, prepare and dispatch suicide attackers who play havoc with life and property in the urban Pakistan.

Let us admit that the militants are not only successful, through use of brutal force, in keeping Pakistan in a state of insecurity, they are more successful in spreading effective psychological warfare by creating the impression that their fight against Pakistan's armed forces or its citizens is not an attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan.

M. SAYED GB SHAH BOKHARI

Peshawar