The agreements reached at the recent Pak-Afghan talks in Islamabad need to be implemented urgently in letter and spirit. It was decided that militants who wanted to be associated with the peace process should be facilitated to join the negotiations under the aegis of the newly set up Pak-Afghan joint Commission on Peace and Reconciliation. Those who do not agree to join the process must be dropped out and subjected to military operation. No quarter should any more be given to militant groups who try to keep the pot boiling in Afghanistan. Reports tell of Kabul’s keenness to involve the Haqqani network also in the peace process and of Islamabad assuring that it would try to rope in the group which remains a bugbear for the US.
There is a need to spell out the barest minimum requirements from a militant group willing to be associated with the peace process. Any such group must extend solid and verifiable guarantees not to allow the area under its control to be used for launching attacks against Afghanistan, Pakistan or any other country. As a responsible state Pakistan must not allow its territory to be used by anyone as a launching pad against the US and allied troops which are being gradually withdrawn from Afghanistan. Further the militant group must break up whatever ties it might have had in the past with the Al-Qaeda which follows a global agenda of terror and poses threat to the whole world. All militant groups have to abjure violence and join the mainstream politics.
No talks with the militant groups would be productive unless training camps in the tribal areas are disbanded. Similarly, factories set up to produce IEDs have to be dismantled. The lethal products of these factories have not only killed and maimed hundreds of US and allied troops but have also caused casualties among Pakistani forces during the operations in South Waziristan and Swat. On Sunday an IED injured three commuters on the busy Islamabad-Murree road. There must be a clear cut timeframe for operation against the terrorist networks who fail to accept the demands.
