Challenges must be tackled together in militancy-hit province
The handover has been completed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) after Pervez Khatak of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was elected chief minister of the province on Friday. The province is the one that faces the greatest problems, and perhaps requires the most concentrated effort from both the central and provincial government. With expectations high that the PTI shall bring ‘something different’ to the people of the province, the hope is that an end can be put to what has been about 12 years of suffering for them. Threatened by the Taliban, displaced by military operations, the resilience of the people of KP is a story that is often told to foreign observers – but when it has come to genuine concern and effort from the Pakistani government, there has been little deliverance.
“The government is losing its writ over the surroundings of Peshawar,” were the warning words issued by the new speaker of the KP assembly. These should come as a reality check for both the PTI and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), with both looking to broker a way out of the war on terror. Both parties are at times accused of being blind to the Taliban threat. Now that both are holding the reins of power, we will see what mettle the two parties are made off when confronted with the challenge of the Taliban on the ground. The need will be for both parties to forget the blame game and look towards formulating a joint strategy.
As it stands, it is premier-in-waiting Nawaz Sharif that is playing the realist card. After the drone attack which claimed the TTP second in command, Sharif has said, he would like to work with the United States to combat terrorism. On the other side, the PTI chief Imran Khan knows no such diplomacy. Despite the TTP accepting that one of its chieftains had been killed, Khan’s anti-drone rhetoric has not wavered, to the extent that some observers wonder if the PTI chief has a backup plan if the Taliban refuse to talk. Khan’s demand that Sharif’s first decision once he assumes the seat of prime minister should be to decide to “stop or shoot down drones” reeks of political immaturity. While drones are a serious issue, they are not the top of the priority list. The new governments at the centre and KP should know better than to shoot themselves in the foot by antagonizing the US without any attempt at dialogue, and be left facing a rejuvenated Taliban without any international support. The new KP chief minister will do well to know that sloganeering is not the way the next KP government is to fulfill its mandate. The PTI and PML-N will need to sit down to work out a joint strategy to combat terror – but before that the PTI chief will need to show more maturity and appreciate the problem on the ground.