Blog
I am going to write about conflict and terrorism. In the past decade terrorism has become a big topic in the media and around the world. There are different definitions of the word `terrorism` that varies from country to country. If we want to find a solution to terrorism then we should view it from different angles. Below I have written a fictional story about boy who is fighting among `terrorists`. The story is told in the view of the boy.



I was born in north western Pakistan. I am of Pashtun ethnicity. When I was born there was a conflict between the Pakistani government and local pashtun tribes. I did not receive any formal education when I was a child. Instead I went to a local madrassah where I was taught Islamic studies and how to read the Quran. I belonged to one of the poorer tribes. Where I grew up wealth was not measured by how many money we had but it was measured by how many herds and land we had. Since I was a child I was always told that the Pakistani army was our enemy. I was told stories about how the Pakistani government had persecuted the pashtun people in the past. I was sort of brainwashed. My father and uncles were all active in the fight against the Pakistani army. They always carried rifles on their shoulders and they were among the respected and honored people in our tribe and other tribes. I wanted to become like them. When I was a child I used to climb up the hill at dawn to watch my father and uncles return home from battle. There were some times my uncles and some other people I knew never returned. When I asked my father where they were, my father would simple reply smiling “Paradise”. I then knew what he meant.



I was very angry at the Pakistani government about the deaths of my uncles and friends. I remember one time I had a cousin who was my best friend and we were about the same age. We were both 10 years old. One night when we all were sleeping the Pakistani army ambushed our village. A lot of my friends died including my cousin and one of my aunts. I was filled with vengeance after that. I said to my father that I wanted to join the fight against the Pakistani army. My father said to me that I was too young and that one day I would. When I grew a little older I was given tasks by my father to keep a watch out for the Pakistani troops. I would then tell my father about their locations and where they went.


There were some people that I knew who went to cities to carry out suicide attacks. I always wondered how they could do this knowing that they would kill themselves and other innocent people. After some time I was allowed to fight on frontline. I always carried a rifle and opened fire on the Pakistani military convoy when ever I would see them. A lot of my friends were with me. They killed a lot of my friends. At that time I was only 15 years old. Once when we were on a mission we went through a village where American helicopters had ambushed the night before. As we walked through we saw a lot of death bodies. The bodies were mutilated and torn away. There were children, women and even infants among the corpses. There were arms, fingers and other body parts that lay on the ground. We could smell burning flesh and blood as we walked through. Some of the bodies and remains I recognized instantly. These were the remains of the boys I played soccer with on Saturday evenings. It was a horrible scenario but these kinds of scenarios became normal to me after some time. The hate toward the Pakistani army and their ally the Americans grew even more. Some of the people who fought by our side the Pakistani army did not fight for political reasons but for personal reasons. They were seeking revenge for their loved ones. They were seeking revenge for their children, their wives and their parents. They were so desperate for revenge that they even laid their own lives on the stake. They carried explosives on them and pressed the button when they were in the markets and other public places killing innocent people. I finally found the answer to my question `why people carry out terrorist attacks? `. People who carry out terrorist attacks are people who have been oppressed and persecuted. They are so hungry for revenge that they even kill innocent people.


From this story we can see the reason why terrorism happens. Terrorism is the war of poor men and war is the rich men’s terrorism. We should not always blame people who carry out terrorism. Everything happens for a reason and terrorism also happens for a reason. Terrorism is an act of desperation. Instead of attacking people who carry out terrorism we should find out the reason why terrorism occurs. We can prevent terrorism by giving people equal rights no matter which religion or which background they belong to. Instead of having an armed conflict we should be able to discuss issues and try to solve them without creating an armed conflict.