Are we going to be stung by the dark forces again? Let’s not mourn the death of teenager student from Dir who remained in coma for 15 months after getting injured in a suicide bomber attack; or the death of KP Senior Minister Bashir Bilour for defying Taliban or this week’s attack by hundreds of militants on Levies checkposts outside Peshawar killing several on spot and later shooting 21 kidnapped soldiers as well. Amid this grim atmosphere comes the joking stuff from Taliban — offer to negotiate with the Pakistan government. But this offer is not coming free; it has got several strings attached: Taliban will not disarm, Pakistan shall adapt militant’s version of Islam, Pakistan shall withdraw from Afghan war, and denounce democracy.
Do we need to negotiate any further after fulfilling Taliban’s preconditions? We better hand over the keys of Islamabad to them as we did in 2009 when Pakistan National Assembly legitimised Taliban’s rule in Swat. We all know what Afghan Taliban did to women, minorities and general public when they ruled that unfortunate country before 9/11. And we have not yet forgotten what their Pakistani brethren did in Swat. We need not to be fooled by any such offer for negotiations; Taliban have always used this tactic to rearm and regroup and then strike hard. We shall also be grateful to Taliban who have denied the myth used by several religious parties that Pakistani Taliban are different from their Afghan and Al-Qaeda comrades. All three — Pakistani and Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda — are in the same league to destroy the civilian rule in these countries.
Pakistan has no other choice but to win this war on these dark forces from medieval times. Obviously, it’s not only physical elimination of Taliban but also dismantling of their ideological and financial support network spread all over the country. So far Pakistan has proved its incapability to handle this menace; obviously outside world will not wait endlessly for the outcome. It’s something more serious than blocking and unblocking of YouTube.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia