Brief Intro:
For my culture project I focused on how Pakistan has been affected by Militarization over time. This topic relates to my language learning because it helps me understand a topic that is pertinent to the people of Pakistan. There have been several terrorist attacks that have occurred in Pakistan which has forced the government to make some extreme decisions in terms of government, schooling, and safety. Given that these are topics of extreme importance, I believe that understanding and analyzing these changes will help me understand how both the people and language of Pakistan have been affected.
Summary:
The Peshawar School attack of December 16, 2014 was one of the deadliest terrorist attacks ever in Pakistan. The Taliban was in charge of this attack in which 141 people died-- 132 of them being children. This school is an Army public school which was targeted dude to the violent history of the TTP (Tehrik-i-Taliban) in Pakistan. There has been an ongoing war in North-West Pakistan in which various militant groups in North Waziristan have been causing chaos. Over 2,100 people have been killed there thus far. The Pakistan Armed Forced decided to act on this on June 2014, launching their Military Offensive "Operation Zarb-e-Azb" in which hundreds of Taliban deaths occurred in North Waziristan. The Taliban thus considered this attack to be a revenge attack for the Army offensive-- thus the school was targeted in response to military operations. Their motto was to "kill them today before they become soldiers tomorrow." In general, the Taliban targets the army and schools-- which are two targets that were achieved by attacking the Army Public School children (many which were children of Pakistani Army officers).The Tehrik-i-Taliban have had a very violent history in Pakistan, many of which includes the September 2013 attack at a church in Peshawar (killing 80 people) and the 2014 Jinnah International Airport attack.
Pakistan's response included removing ban executions in which they revived the death penalty and 18 people were immediately hanged. A 20-point National Action Plan (NAP) has been set in place, one that punishes those deemed to disseminate terrorist propaganda. Also, on January 6, 2015 Pakistan amended its constitution so that it can empower armed forces to execute "religious terrorist groups" without due process and fundamental rights. Schools have also greatly been impacted. 7 Billion rupees ($69 million) has been spent on enhancing security at government run schools in Pakistan. School security has also increased through the addition of surveillance cameras, and snipers. Teachers are now also allowed to have firearm licenses to keep guns at school and are required to undergo training. In conclusion, living under a Militarized Government is definitely a cultural issue. In Pakistan there are school that are run by the Army where their children attend-- this is a construct that is not present in any of my cultures. Since their government is militarized, they are able to impose laws and regulations at will. They are also able to make unlawful amendments to their constitution-- putting the protection of fundamental rights and liberties in question. However, in general I feel as though the Pakistani government has had to make large sacrifices in order to respond to such horrific acts. The Pakistani people continue to push forward and be positive in spite of all of the tragedy that has occurred. Many choose to express themselves through Urdu poetry and songs as discussed in my presentation.
Sources:
First Few Slides are attached. Others will be attached on other file.
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