PTI
Islamabad, Jul 19: As Pakistan struggles to rein in Taliban militants in its tribal areas, about four million people have signed a petition against terrorism that was launched by an NGO from the country in just four days.
The movement, launched to tell the world that all Muslims and Pakistanis are not terrorists, is set to become the biggest such campaign ever.
Big names from Pakistan's entertainment industry joined hands earlier this week with the Yeh Hum Naheen Foundation, a Karachi based non-profit body, to urge Pakistanis to sign the petition.
The number of petitioners, which stood at 22,400 on July 14, has now crossed 4,100,000. Over two million signatures were collected within Pakistan and the rest from abroad.
''We had set a target of one million signatures for the opening day, although I was confident that we will achieve the target, I was overwhelmed by the response of all segments of people in the country,'' said Waseem Mahmood, the London-based brain behind the Foundation.
The Foundation has hired 6,000 volunteers across the country including in places like Bahawalpur, Multan, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala, Quetta, Sukkur, Malakand and Sargodha to make people sign up the campaign.
This apart, Pakistanis around the world are signing up on-line and through an SMS campaign. The Foundation aims to collect 60 million signatures by August 15.
The on-line campaign encouraging Pakistanis to sign the petition states: 'Are we the ones who deprive mothers of their children? Are we the ones who deprive children of their fathers' affection? Are we the ones who are destroying our own futures?'
No, this is not us say Pakistan's top artists who have signed up for the campaign.
Shakeel, Zeba Bakhtiar, Noman Ejaz, Samina and Usman Peerzada and many other TV and film stars have become a part of the campaign to tell the world that ''this is not us''.
A ''musical message'' built upon the essence of Islam as a faith that promotes tolerance, peace and harmony, removing prejudices within the community and amongst non-Muslims around the world, is also a part of the campaign.
The song, which is sung by Strings, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Ali Haider, Ali Zafar, Haroon Rasheed, Hadiqa Kiyani and Shuja Haider, has become an anthem for Muslims who want to distance themselves from extremism and violence.
The Foundation's theme song and video, being seen as Pakistan's version of ''We Are The World'', is topping charts in the country.
''This story that is being spread in our names is a lie. These stamps of death on our forehead are the signs of others. The name by which you know us we are not that. The eyes with which you look at us, we are not that. This is not us, this is not us...'' goes the theme song written by top lyricist Ali Moeen in Urdu.
''The inspiration for the song came from my children who were tired at the way a minority of misguided young people were vehemently putting forward a message of radicalization and terrorism that was at odds with what the majority of Muslims believe,'' said Mahmood, adding, it was time to re- address the imbalance, and from the smallest child to the oldest person, Yeh Hum Naheen sought to give a voice to the voiceless.
''From world icons such as Muhammad Ali to the nameless masses, the fact that so many people feel the same way has led to the setting up of the Yeh Hum Naheen Foundation, which seeks to bring this message of tolerance, communication, and harmony to a wider audience,'' he said.
''I am amazed that what started as a simple song has gone on to become an unprecedented anti-terrorism movement,'' he exclaimed.
''It is all too easy to hold faceless agencies or foreign hands responsible for the rise in terrorism in Pakistan, but for me simply finding someone else to blame is not the way to resolve this problem. The fact remains that the perpetrators of these heinous acts are from amongst us,'' he said.
A print and television campaign has also been launched by the Foundation to get people to support its movement to reject terrorism and to reclaim Islam from the extremists.