The Punjabi Taliban throw the gauntlet

A grim reminder of barbarity it is capable of

The Punjabi Taliban, whose existence was consistently denied by the Punjab government bigwigs, is now out on the media with a big bang. The party has distributed a pamphlet in South Punjab and the two Waziristan Agencies warning the PML-N government that executing its activists who are on the death row would be tantamount to war. While the PPP led government practiced a policy of moratorium on death penalty for civilian prisoners, the PML-N leadership had vehemently opposed the policy, maintaining that it was responsible for the increase in crime rate. The PML-N t had persistently demanded the hanging of the death row prisoners. As Chaudhry Nisar put it, those who “need to be punished should be punished”. With the presidential moratorium ending in June, and an interior ministry spokesman maintaining that it would not be renewed, the hangmen in prisons across the country are getting ready to resume their duties. Four prisoners, including two belonging to the banned sectarian outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), are due for execution at the Sukkur jail and Karachi Central prison on August 20, 21 and 22.

The pamphlet is a combination of threats, offer of peace which is no more than a ruse and warnings against following the army’s advice. In case the government went ahead with the hangings, the pamphlet warns, it would be following in the footsteps of the ANP. The chilling reminder: “Remember what happened to the Awami National Party (ANP)… No one would now go to them even for condolences.” The grim warning is followed by the advice to beware of the army’s plans, which according to the pamphlet is likely to abandon the PML-N after it has fulfilled the army’s needs and bring another political party to power in its place. The professions of the network’s ‘peaceful intentions’ are an insult to the intelligence of ordinary Pakistanis who have witnessed during the last two months barbarities of the worst kind committed and subsequently owned by the LeJ and the TTP in Balochistan, Karachi, Peshawar and Gilgit-Baltistan. Taking the usual recourse to conspiracy theory when finding it hard to sound credible, the Punjabi Taliban maintain: “Execution of prisoners will prove to be the next episode of that conspiracy.”

The government is expected to respond firmly to the challenge from the Punjabi Taliban. Any weakness displayed would further demoralize the law enforcement agencies who are constantly under attack from the terrorists. Another jailbreak in the country would send a highly negative message. So would any softening of the attitude towards the militant networks or their members facing sentences in jails. The opposition parties and parliament have yet to be taken on board while formulating the national security policy. The continuing delay has led several opposition leaders to express apprehensions, Senator Raza Rabbani being the last of them. He has urged the federal government to avoid relying on civil and military bureaucracy and instead undertake consultations with the politicians before taking the policy document to the parliament.