Parameters of a new security policy

The PML-N needs, along with a strong mandate, an equally strong political will to pursue it

In an unending series of attacks, terrorists have ambushed a military convoy killing six servicemen outside Peshawar. After Quetta and Mardan, this was the third major attack in a week. The incident would further enhance the sense of insecurity in the country and send a negative message to potential investors. When well-armed military personnel are unsafe, there is little a common citizen can do to save his life in case of a random terrorist strike.

There is an urgent need on the part of the PML-N government to take measures to put an end to the killings in Pakistan in the name of jihad against the US by TTP and its affiliates. Over 50,000 Pakistanis are estimated to have fallen victim to terrorist attacks since 2003. More than 5,000 security personnel too have died in the attacks. There has to be a stop to the killings.

People expect the new government to take the required measures to take out the killers. Speaking to the newly elected party MNAs and MPAs soon after the elections, Nawaz had said, “The first 30 days in government will show the nation our direction.” He had also said that the Taliban offer for talks should be taken seriously. The Taliban are once again on the killing spree while they have withdrawn the offer for talks. What is the government going to do now?

Both Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan have in the past linked drone strikes with the rise in terrorist attacks. There is no doubt that the collateral damage caused by the so-called precision bombing leads to a lot of human suffering and causes resentment against the US. There are varying estimates of the number of civilian casualties in drone attacks. According to London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, between 2,496 and 3,202 people have been reported killed by drones in Pakistan since 2004. Among them up to 832 were civilians, 175 of them children. The drone attacks have no legal or moral justification. Like the attacks by the TTP and its affiliates these too constitute acts of terrorism that must be brought to an end. But how to force the US to stop the drone operation?

Before the elections both the PML-N and PTI promised to put an end to strikes if elected to power. Soon after the takeover by the PML-N, a drone attack was reported from North Waziristan. This led some to remind Nawaz Sharif of his promise. With the assumption of power and after receiving briefings from the law enforcement agencies, the new prime minister is reacting with caution, disregarding provocations. Recently, a PML-Q Senator taunted the new government of cooperating with the US in its war on terror.

After losing two PTI MPAs in KP in terrorist attacks, Imran Khan too is gradually developing a more realistic view of the situation. In his maiden speech in the National Assembly he maintained that he did not demand the shooting down of the drones but would like the issue to be settled through diplomacy.

Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, is hopeful that the government would succeed in bringing an end to drone strikes. But would that put an end to the terrorist attacks? Terrorist attacks were in fact taking place long before the drone attacks started. The first thing the militants did in the tribal areas after the US operation in Afghnistan was to systematically eliminate the pro-government tribal chiefs. This was years before the drones appeared in Pakistan. Similarly, the sectarian terrorists were already on the rampage in the ’90s targeting mosques, shrines and imam bargahs and killing innocent people in indiscriminate attacks. The TTP is wedded to the idea of a worldwide Islamic Caliphate and end in the Muslim world to nation states defined by geographical frontiers. They would therefore continue to confront the state, drones or no drones.

One can only hope that the government will succeed in putting an end to the drone strikes through talks with the US. But policies are not made on the basis of hopes. The government has to devise a security policy that can be implemented even if the drone attacks do not end. The aim of the security policy should be to pacify the terrorists.

The PML-N government has been briefed by the COAS and the DG ISI who in turn have listened to the concerns expressed by the new government. After the interior minister has held another session with the security agencies, a security policy is expected to be cobbled together in consultation with the opposition parties soon after the budget is passed next week.

There is talk about using the PPP government’s National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) Ordinance as a template. The NACTA was meant to formulate a strategy to end terrorism, monitor its implementation and prepare national threat assessment (NTA) reports. The Ordinance was issued in 2009 but there could not be any legislation for over two years on account of the dependence of the PPP on allies who threatened to resign and bring down the government every now and then. While the Ordinance was passed in 2012 by the National Assembly it lapsed in the Senate due to lack of interest.

What one infers from the remarks by Ch Nisar Ali Khan is that the only hurdle in putting an end to militancy is the lack of coordination among security agencies. Once this is straightened out, everything will be alright. The lack of coordination is of course a big issue which has to be sorted out in any case. Agencies must be made to improve coordination instead of living in self-created islands. There are, however, other issues which are of even greater importance.

Pakistan will have to decide whether it can afford to keep the major portion of its forces on the eastern front while at the same time fighting against the insurrection on the western front, from where the terrorists conduct attacks inside the country. Some think there is an urgent need to improve ties with India, keeping for the time being the Kashmir issue on back burner. After all many more servicemen and civilians have been killed by the terrorists than in any single war with India.

The patronisation of the terror groups by the state must be abandoned as it is self-destructive in the long run. The policy of cherry-picking the terrorist groups has to be stopped. Equally important is not to allow friendly governments to encourage and finance proxy wars inside Pakistan. The political parties will have to ensure that they do not provide respectability to the extremist outfits by seeking their help in elections. A comprehensive security policy can be put into action only if the PML-N government with its strong mandate also possesses an equally strong political will to pursue it.

The writer is a political analyst and a former academic.