Welcome move against extremists

Now that the government has finally made its move we suggest a very vital accompanying step. These militants are trying to present themselves as proponents of Islam and those who speak and act against them as acting against Islam. This propaganda must be effectively countered. They not only do not represent Islam in any real sense but in fact distort a religion of peace and progress as a militaristic theology given to wanton violence and intolerance. This is precisely the image of Islam that its enemies would like to project. These groups have hijacked a glorious religion and are using it as a cover to achieve their own political agenda. These people will have to be exposed for what they are, and not be allowed to exploit the religiosity of our people.

We would also like to suggest that the government would have been much better served if it took the hundreds of media reports on extremists' activities a little more seriously instead of accusing the media of lies and exaggeration. From the very beginning the government went into a denial mode wrongly concluding that any other course of action would affect our image of being a tolerant society. The truth is, it is because we are tolerant the extremists are so active. We expect the government to learn a fundamental lesson from this experience -- that it should have greater respect for the independent media and take what we report not as figment of our imagination.

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A final word. Let not this be a one off step but the first of a genuine attempt to not only curb but in fact completely uproot extremism from our midst. We have already lost a lot of time.