Pampering the crocodile

TTP’s new intimidations
The TTP continues to gloat over the horrors it commits. It has launched attacks in crowded streets, targeted mosques and shrines and beheaded military personnel. It promptly accepted the responsibility for the attack on school girl Mala Yousafzai who was emerging as a role model for young girls in Swat and KP, an incident condemned all over Pakistan. Last week, the TTP blasted an IED outside Ziarat Kakakhel, killing six. On Saturday, it owned the attack that killed the chief of a peace jirga in Buner. One had hoped that these actions would be condemned by all political parties with one voice. A number of political and religious parties, however, avoided directly condemning the TTP, strengthening the perception that some in their ranks have a soft corner for the militants or are afraid of them. This has provided encouragement to the militants who have increased attacks inside KP during the last couple of months.
The statement by TTP spokesman indicates that the militant outfit is now trying to reach out to the otherwise secular Baloch Liberation Association (BLA) and the paper organisation that calls itself Sindh Liberation Association (SLA) maintaining that the two are fighting against injustice. He has promised to support them if they conduct their attacks according to the teachings of Islam. This is making a travesty of a faith which does not allow violence or lawlessness. The statement is an invitation to other forces of chaos to join hands with the TTP to unleash mayhem to weaken the country and to finally break it up. Whose agenda is the TTP trying to fulfill?
The TTP spokesman maintains that the superior judiciary is a part of the secular system prevailing in Pakistan. He has called on the judges for the enforcement of Shariah as defined by the militants. This constitutes a threat to the independent judiciary. He has also threatened to rid the people of Karachi from the MQM’s oppression. While many differ with MQM’s policies, what needs to be stressed is that the only way of depriving a party of power is through ballot and not the bullet. The Taliban maintain they are preparing a strategy about elections and the political parties who intend to fight them. This is a tactic to intimidate and divide the political parties. The ANP has done well to reject the TTP’s threats. It is now for parties like the PML-N and PTI which maintain an ambivalent policy about the militants to explain their position regarding the threats being extended to judiciary and the political parties. A policy of appeasement helps neither the country nor the one who practices it. As Churchill once summarised it, an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last. Finally, the crocodile spares none.