The place where every day is 9/11

Before 9/11, Pakistan had one suicide bombing, an attack on the Egyptian Embassy that claimed 15 lives. By contrast, in 2010 alone, Pakistan has suffered an average of six terrorist attacks, per day.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - In Pakistan, they say, "Every day is 9/11." Terrorist attacks are so frequent that many people stay home and avoid public places. Others have simply grown fatalistic about the situation, and others so accustomed to the carnage, they can only be described as apathetic. News of violence that would make headlines across the U.S. for weeks, is hardly noteworthy in Pakistan. There's little sense in carrying on about a single attack. There'll be fresh ones tomorrow.

The problem is the perception of the Pakistani people. The majority of Pakistanis feel the U.S. is responsible for the troubles the country faces, and not just the attacks, either. The political chaos, the economic crisis that grips the country, virtually everything. 

It's a natural feeling. Pakistan had its problems before 9/11. There was international tension with India, and political and social division within the country, but with the exception of occasional exchanges of fire in Kashmir, things seemed relatively peaceful, compared to now. After 9/11 and the Allied invasion of Afghanistan, the relative harmony of the region has been upset. 

The U.S. started by pressuring President Musharraf for cooperation. Allied aircraft would be flying over Pakistan, and although the U.S. and Pakistan had previously enjoyed cordial relations, there wasn't much choice--the request came with a thinly veiled threat. Recall, "You are either with us, or you are against us." Soon, defeated Taliban fighters fled across the border into the arms of sympathetic Pakistani tribes, and the Allies followed. Spy drones and small bands of special forces began to operate continually in the country. Militants who saw this as an invasion instead of cooperation, felt threatened and the campaign of violence began.
  As the U.S. conducted raids inside Pakistan, ostensibly with the full cooperation of the Pakistani government, key al Qaeda operatives were arrested and shipped to Guantanamo Bay. Rather than viewing this as the result of an international manhunt, many Pakistanis simply saw this as a further violation of sovereignty.
  Add now to the history, the butcher bill. The U.S. lost nearly 3,000 people on 9/11. Pakistan has lost nearly 5,000 since then and that's only the dead. The injured could fill a small town, exceeding 10,000. 

Is the U.S. really to blame?

No country should be blamed for pursuing justice in the wake of terrorism, and 9/11 is an exceptional case at that. Not only for the death toll, but also for the international scope of the act. The people of 56 different countries were killed in the attacks. An atrocity perpetrated against 56 nations of the world demands an international pursuit of justice. 

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Pakistan is also connected to the world economy, and global financial woes are being felt there. Until 2008, Pakistan enjoyed robust rates of growth and a degree of prosperity. However, memories are short, and it is easier to blame a powerful foreign country for complex national problems rather than to see things as they are. It doesn't help that the current regime is rife with corruption and its intelligence officers are intensely sympathetic to the most militant terrorists in the country, which until recently included Osama bin Laden.  

The people of Pakistan are caught in a crossfire. Militants who cannot strike directly at the U.S. instead strike their neighbors, who they accuse of being U.S. allies. However, accusing innocent Pakistanis of being U.S. allies is tragically short-sighted. Most Pakistanis are quite fed up with U.S. activity within their borders, although they're unlikely to act out by killing innocents. 

To kill innocents, a special kind of rationale is necessary. The kind of rationale found in the preaching and practices of militant Islam is precisely the driving force behind the constant tragedy in Pakistan. It's a rationale that persuades even women and children to kill themselves and to take as many others with themselves as they possibly can. 

And that is the true enemy of Pakistan.

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