Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Asad Umar has said his party will fully back the federal government’s initiative to devise a national counterterrorism strategy and it will participate in talks with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or any other group, if the government decides to do so.
“The PML-N and the PTI have almost the same stance on tackling militancy in the country. So we want the (federal) government to take a lead in this regard,” said the PTI leader in an exclusive talk with Pakistan Today.
“However, the PTI wants all organs of the state to be aligned. We want the federal government to take on board all the stakeholders, including political leadership of the country, provincial governments and the leadership of the armed forces as well as intelligence agencies to devise a national strategy on the matter,” he said.
Umar, an economist-turned-politician, added that due to the complexity of the issue only a consensus strategy could help resolve the matter.
“The nation will have to be united on a strategy to deal with the matter. We want the federal government not to waste even a single day in holding a meeting to devise a national strategy. The PTI is ready to help with all its ideas and homework to be shared in this regard,” he added.
He said PTI Chairman Imran Khan wanted that there should be no hypocrisy on the issue by the federal and provincial governments as was the case during the previous regimes.
“We don’t want that the rulers say something behind closed doors and they lie to their people when come in public. Rather, there should be nothing to hide,” he said.
Umar said his party had closely analysed the strategies for tackling militancy around the world and hence it had been calling for taking multiple measures to deal with the matter, including holding talks with the militants.
Asked whether the PTI’s stance had been moderated about talks with the TTP following the assassination of its two MPAs in recent terrorists attacks claimed by the TTP, Umar said anyone assassinated in terrorist attack(s) was as valuable to his party as its members, adding that everyone held the same value for the PTI.
“Human life is precious for us. Whether a common man loses his life in a terrorist attack or an MPA of the PPP, the ANP or the PTI is assassinated, they have the same value for my party. So there is no policy shift and rather it’s our stated policy,” he asserted, adding that his party did not want a single day to be wasted in formulating a counterterrorism strategy.
The PTI leader was appalled when asked whether his party chief had lost sympathy for the TTP.
“Sympathy? We never had any sympathy for the terrorists. Calling for holding talks does not mean sympathy. Rather, dialogue is a tool to tackle any issue and talks are necessary to resolve a feud,” the PTI leader asserted. “We want the federal government to hold top leaders’ meeting as soon as possible. Don’t delay it. Immediate action is imperative and this should be the government’s number one priority,” he said.
However, Brig (r) Mahmood Shah, eminent expert on security matters, terms the PTI leadership’s stance “faulty and immature”, stating that the Imran Khan-led party’s government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is trying to run away from its responsibility of providing security to the people of the province.
“Asking the federal government to devise a national strategy and holding talks with the TTP is just ridiculous,” Shah said.
“Those who take up arms against the state are terrorists and they should not be spared. What to talk about holding talks? The political leadership should take the ownership of the war against terrorists. The army leadership has said publicly that this confusion should end. The PM should come to the fore and announce a war on criminals,” he added.
He said the war against militants was a complex issue and “the Punjab-based leadership of the PML-N and the PTI cannot understand the matter”. He said the Swat operation was successful and the Swat rehabilitation process was also completed successfully, adding that the law and order was also restored in the valley and life was back to normal. He said the same model should be adapted in North Waziristan where the TTP leadership was based.
Asked if the US was holding talks with Taliban, why could Pakistan not do so the same with the TTP, Shah argued that the US forces were withdrawing from Afghanistan so they needed a safe passage.
“Is Pakistan also withdrawing from Waziristan? Even if Pakistan is withdrawing, the TTP is not and they are even expanding to cities like Karachi,” he added.
The expert said the Swat operation model was being studied by the US and the NATO forces, adding that the robust Pakistani army could defeat the TTP and regain its control. “But if operation is delayed, the country may come to a situation where operation is impossible,” he said and added that the TTP was strengthening due to the loopholes in our judicial system as no terrorist was being sentenced by the courts.
Talking about the “immature” stance of Khan over a host of issues, Shah said Khan had announced that after coming to power, his party’s government would abandon the Chief Minister’s House and the Governor’s House. “However, soon after getting familiar with the practical problems, Khan has now allowed KP Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak to shift to the CM’s House,” he said.
Referring to peace efforts by the ANP government in the recent past, Shah said the previous provincial government had started dialogue with the TTP and later took on board the federal government and their demands were later come to the fore but to no avail.
“The people of KP expected that the PTI government will be able to tackle this issue. But they are inexperienced,” he said, adding that the TTP was taking advantage of this confusion among the government’s top leadership and people.
He said even if they wanted to hold talks with the militants, they should go for it as it was their honeymoon period but changing stance would not help. Shah said taking the national leadership on board was a lengthy process and all political parties cold not evolve consensus.
