JCSC meeting declares commitment to elections, fighting TTP
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) withdrawal of its earlier peace talks offer two days ago only paid lip service to what was already known. The pretext used was a ““non-serious attitude of the security forces and the government”. However, the recent attack outside a judicial complex in Peshawar which left four people dead had confirmed that the TTP had no intention of backing down and letting a smooth electoral season pass.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee meeting yesterday has come at an apt time. With the national assembly standing dissolved, the army has declared its commitment to both combating the terrorist threat and supporting the Election Commission of Pakistan in the upcoming elections.
A military spokesman declared that “all elements of national power would be utilised to combat and root out terrorism from the country”. The JCSC has declared its firm belief that the TTP and other Islamist militants will continue attacks – and perhaps only use peace offers to buy time to regroup.
On the face of it, the military’s declaration is a welcome policy statement. Terrorist groups must not only be deterred from launching attacks during the forthcoming elections but also defeated in the long term. The army’s task is to defend the country and its people, and not assert a security paradigm separate to the civilian government. It is hoped that the “Good Taliban, Bad Taliban” paradigm has been buried by the military top brass. The priority should be to eliminate foreign militants, who continue to use the tribal areas as a springboard for their activities. The writ of the state needs to be restored and the army has a critical role to play.
With the government having announced May 11 as the date of the election, the task of curbing the activities of terrorist groups has become ever more urgent. A comprehensive strategy is yet to be worked out and despite the loss of over 40,000 civilians and 4,000 military men in the war against the Taliban, doubts have continued to be asserted over the double role of the military. However, the JCSC meeting on the face of it shows that the military is now committed to what General Kayani declared more recently: internal terrorism is Pakistan’s biggest threat.
Whether or not this will yield action on the ground, or produce a more deadly response from the TTP, we shall have to wait and watch, and hope for the best.
