No choice but to strike back
There is a need now to put an end to poppycock about talks with the TTP. In the senseless pursuit of preserving the likes of LeJ as strategic assets, the entire country has been left at the mercy of terrorists. Some had hoped that with the guarantors of peace, selected by the TTP itself, coming to power at the centre and KP, and the JUI-F supporting the PML-N in the National Assembly, there would be a respite to terror attacks. This has failed to happen which indicates that the TTP’s offer for talks was no more than a ruse. It is beyond doubt now that the terrorists are fully focused on creating chaos in Pakistan while using the differences between political parties and creating a gulf between them and the army.
The last four weeks have seen inhuman and relentless attacks in Quetta and Peshawar killing scores of innocent citizens and security personnel. While the media and the opposition have reserved their adverse comments to give the newly elected government an opportunity to settle down, the extremist militants are leaving no stone unturned to destabilise the set up. The shameful Nanga Parbat attack has embarrassed Pakistan internationally. Coming as it does only days before Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing, the attack was a calculated move to embitter relations between the traditional allies. That the terrorists continue to attack the elected representatives of the people leaves no doubt about their animosity to democracy and a desire to dictate to the people of Pakistan through the barrel of the gun. Two PTI MPAs and an MQM MPA have been killed since the declaration of the election results. That some of the politicians still continue to talk about parleys with the terrorists brings into question their political maturity.
The people of Pakistan are fed up with the attacks. As happened after the excesses committed by the militants in Swat, the entire country would wholeheartedly support any well considered move to uproot terrorism in Pakistan once and for all. It would be disastrous on the part of the government to miss the opportunity. Unless the National Assembly, led by the government, responds effectively to the challenge posed by the bloody terrorist attacks there would be widespread despondency and alienation in the country. It is time the National Assembly owns the war against the TTP and its sectarian affiliates. What is required on the part of the administration is to spell out its much awaited security policy. Security agencies should be made to share information and coordinate activities instead of acting as rivals. Real time and actionable intelligence about the hydra-headed terrorist monster has to be pooled. All law enforcement agencies, civilian as well as military, have to subsequently work in unison to eradicate the menace that threatens the very existence of the state. The terrorist challenge has to be met with the full coercive force of the state without undue delay.