War & Peace Quote by Shaukat Aziz

“Terrorism” here isn’t just a security problem; it’s framed as an existential threat to the state’s very right to stand on its own. Shaukat Aziz’s line fuses counterterror policy to the most emotionally loaded idea in Pakistani political life: independence. That move is strategic. Independence is sacred, historically hard-won, and constantly rhetorically defended against real and imagined external pressures. By casting militants as the enemy of sovereignty, Aziz tries to relocate the fight from the messy realm of “law-and-order” into the cleaner, morally elevated arena of national survival.

The subtext is also about legitimacy. In the 2000s, Pakistan’s leadership faced skepticism at home and scrutiny abroad: cooperation with the U.S. after 9/11, domestic blowback, and the persistent suspicion that the state could not fully control its own territory or militant networks. Saying “we will defeat it at all levels” performs state capacity, even if the lived reality was uneven. It signals an all-of-government posture without naming the hardest truths: the blurred lines between “terrorists,” sectarian outfits, and strategic proxies; the political cost of confronting groups with social roots; the institutional frictions between civilian leaders and security agencies.

The language is deliberately broad and declarative. “Big danger” and “fight” create urgency; “for the sake of independence” supplies moral cover; “defeat” promises closure. It’s less a policy blueprint than a reassurance campaign, aimed simultaneously at citizens who want safety and at international partners who want proof that Pakistan’s sovereignty won’t become a vacuum.