SO the media has now become a tool for better governance.At least this is the impression one gets from the prime minister’s recent sacking of the Pakistan Steel Mills’ (PSM) chairman for his alleged corruption and making the concern lose Rs21bn.Interestingly Moeen Aftab Sheikh was removed even before an inquiry was instituted or a report submitted about his supposed wrongdoings.
A few years ago, I met some young boys from my village near Bahawalpur who were preparing to go on jihad. They smirked politely when I asked them to close their eyes and imagine their future. “We can tell you without closing our eyes that we don’t see anything.”
Punjabi jihadism has its distinctive features. Its leadership is trained in religious ideology, while its foot soldiers are divided between those that have received better schooling in government schools and those that are madrassa trained.
The Punjabi jihadis are different from their counterparts in FATA: the former are comparatively more educated. There are many, such as Maulana Masood Azhar, who were educated in the Banuri town madrassa in Karachi and completed their dars-e-nizami — an eight-year course in religious ideology that inculcates the significance of jihad in the pupil.
