Dialogue of the deaf

Halfhearted measures will not do

Since the APC (All Parties Conference) on terrorism, the official mantra has been talks with the Taliban. Just a week or so down the line however, we are at a loss with whom to talk to and on what agenda?

The killing of GOC Swat Maj Gen Sanullah Niazi threw a spanner in the works. Unlike the political leadership that predictably came up with a weak-kneed response – perhaps with the sole exception of Asif Zardari who condemned the incident in unequivocal terms – Gen Kayani vowed that the army would not submit to the militants’ terms.

The COAS while lamenting the death of his comrade in arms at the hands of the terrorists strongly rejected in any preconditions for talks with the militants.

Now Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan, who was the sole PML-N attendant at the slain general’s funeral prayer, has grudgingly admitted that that moves for peace talks with the Taliban have run aground. The moot question is: Were they ever destined to take off?

The Taliban spokesman has enthusiastically owned the ghastly assassination of the GOC and his colleagues. Claiming that no one had contacted them for initiating talks, the spokesman at the same time spelled out the Taliban’s’ preconditions for the parleys.

Obviously the military laying down its arms, declaring a unilateral ceasefire and releasing Taliban prisoners are terms that cannot be acceptable. Nonetheless soldiers of fortune in the political realm and their apologists in the media are bent upon creating confusion by counselling unconditional talks.

One Javed Piracha, a former PML-N legislator belonging to Kohat has claimed that that he is in touch with the TTP chief Hakimullah Mehshud for release of the Taliban prisoners from Pakistani jails. The self-styled interlocutor was disowned by the militant’s spokesman. However, the government took its time but finally the prime minister too renounced him. Even so he cornered a few hours’ worth of limelight on various talk shows.

Ostensibly to evolve a workable strategy to counter terrorism, by now it is obvious that the APC was a halfhearted, ill-conceived and badly prepared exercise. The military despite knowing that it will not work in the forlorn hope of civilians joining it on the front went along with this ‘consensus-building’ endeavour.

Now, after months of much ado about nothing more than running after the phantom of peace-through-talks, we are back to square one. In fact this is where we were all along. While the enemy is playing its cards very adroitly, the civilian and military leadership is not even on the same page.

While the military favours a no-appeasement policy, the civilian leadership – in the government as well in the opposition – is clueless on what to do. In the absence of a roadmap, capitulation and pacifying the hydra-headed monster is the order of the day.

Imran Khan in alliance with Jamaat-e-Islami is stuck on a one-point agenda: stopping drone attacks and disengaging from the US. He is assuaged with the assurance that Pakistan will move the drone issue at the UN Security Council.

The PML-N is content with its silent understanding with the TTP Punjab and its cohorts. As a result Punjab albeit threatened, is virtually terror free.

As for the military, Gen Kayani in his statements is perhaps more vociferous about the existential threat of terrorism, but it is still not willing to make strategic moves to combat it. Diplomacy in the end analysis is the only way to cut a deal among the protagonists. But talks can only be held from a position of strength.

Right now we do not know whom to talk to and on what agenda? The government has not even formally named its team of negotiators.

Another critical point that has remained unsettled: What the talks are going to be about? The declaration of the APC does not even make a cursory mention of the constitution of Pakistan!

The Taliban apologists in the media however say that there is no need for making allegiance to the constitution a cornerstone for negotiations. In any form of negotiations there must be an agenda with a modicum of agreement on some issues.

Reaching an understanding on the less thorny issues can serve as bedrock to tackle the intractable problems. So far as the Pakistani state and the TTP are concerned, there is hardly any agreement or consensus on anything.

Primarily terrorism in the name of religion is the basic philosophy of the Taliban. An emirate based on a narrow and self-serving interpretation of Sharia is their ultimate objective.

Ironically not Afghanistan but Pakistan is their coveted prize. Obviously paying allegiance to the constitution of Pakistan is an anathema for them.

It is common knowledge that Obama after being hostage to the Pentagon, the CIA and his White House cabal has miserably let down those who were striving for a diplomatic solution to the Af-Pak imbroglio. His much-touted COIN strategy that worked in Iraq has dismally failed in Afghanistan. The US is all set to cut and run come next year.

The above factors do not put Islamabad in a commanding position vis-à-vis its existential enemy. Imploring that the United States will leave Afghanistan to its devices and Pakistan will be left with the mess it leaves behind, Gen Kayani once famously ominously said, “We cannot wish away our enemies.” Now at the twilight of his double-tenure, he is leaving behind a chaotic Afghanistan, an increasingly hostile India and a belligerent Pakistani Taliban. What a legacy!

In the final analysis, talks can only succeed from a position of strength – and that is obviously lacking. The Taliban have clearly spurned half-hearted offers for negotiations. Killing a general and vowing to deal in more of the same is a slap in the face of the appeasers.

The only way to deal with the problem is unleashing the iron fist. Unless a scorched earth policy is adopted in our badlands where the terrorists are ensconced, talks would only translate into surrender of the most abject variety. Even to meet a modicum of success talks should be clearly goal-oriented and from a position of some strength.

Whether Gen Kayani will be able to walk the talk in his last few weeks in uniform is yet to be seen. Probably not. The mantle will be passed on to his successor.

Meanwhile Mian Nawaz Sharif should show some leadership in the face of terrorists rampaging across the country. Half-hearted measures based upon opportunistic compromises will simply no longer do.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today.