With friends like these…
The choice being offered by the TTP is simple: agree to its demands or be prepared for suicide bombings, attacks on peaceful citizens and the country’s strategic assets. What is being demanded in return is: Renounce democracy as it is against Islam; rewrite the constitution as dictated by the TTP; reshape the foreign policy according to its diktat and launch attack on India to avenge the 1971 defeat. As Hakimullh Mehsud has put it, “We are with them (i.e., Afghan Taliban) and Al-Qaeda. We are even willing to get our heads cut off for al Qaeda”. With friends like these Pakistan does not need an enemy.
The people of Pakistan have a strong aspiration for democracy. They have fought against dictators including Zia-ul-Haq who tried to enforce a system somewhat similar to the one the TTP is so keen to promulgate. Unlike Afghanistan most people in Pakistan have a craving to turn their country into a modern, democratic and pluralistic state. The overwhelming majority in Pakistan believes in a moderate Islam which gives equal rights to women and minorities. They want to live peacefully with their neighbours and want Pakistan to be a responsible and prominent member of the international community. This is precisely in line with the vision of Pakistan’s founding father Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
No negotiations are possible with the TTP unless conducted within the parameters of the constitution. The TTP is free to propagate its views through peaceful means, contest the elections and introduce the system of its choice if it is supported by popular mandate. It has instead chosen to dictate through suicide attacks, targeting of innocent citizens, killing of members of minority sects and attacks on the armed forces. The militants have targeted police and beheaded soldiers performing their duties. This is unacceptable.
The TTP enjoys the support of only a minor minority in establishment, media and the public comprising those with a backward, anti-democratic and isolationist mindset. They too need to realise whether they would like to live in a primitive society where media has no freedom, judiciary is not independent and the country is surrounded by self-created enemies. Presently the army has only a handful of terrorists to fight with and they too have been successfully confined to a few strongholds in the mountains. A better coordination between the security agencies has limited the TTP’s reach to the areas adjoining the tribal belt. If the extremists’ demands are accepted, the army would be required to fight not only India but the entire world to enforce the TTP’s primitive ideology. The country would thus suffer isolation and worldwide sanctions.
