But where are the PML-N, PTI governments?
Peshawar, the capital of PTI’s first foray in power, is in the eye of the unrelenting terrorist storm. Quick on the heels of double suicide bombing in a church that killed four score plus Christians, with the blasts reverberating in the United Nations General Assembly in many a statesman’s speech, yet another twin detonation near the famed Qissa Khawani Bazaar in Peshawar on Sunday killed 33 people, wounding another 80-plus. There was speculation whether a police station was the target or the market itself where the explosions took place. That is irrelevant: people were the target, and women and children were consumed in the heavy 200 kilogram blasts. This is the price the innocent pay for the continued wrangling of the politicians, with the PTI and the PML-N in the forefront as apologists of the TTP and its multiple franchises, with Maulana Fazlur Rehman of the JUI-F and his ilk having benefited from the business of religion, terror and bigotry throwing their weight behind the chimera of peace through talks. The TTP spokesman’s latest pronouncement, reiterating its previous stance, should be an eye-opener: “He (Nawaz Sharif) is talking about laying down arms and accepting the Constitution. If we were willing to do that, there would be no need to have any kind of dialogue.”
Yet, the PTI, as if it was the militant’s mouthpiece, continued to blab its inane mantra of allowing the TTP to open an office in Islamabad, which is tantamount to declaring the killer organization and its equally lethal subsidiaries as a kosher political entity instead of a banned terrorist organization engaged in killing the innocent Pakistanis. And the PML-N supremo Mian Nawaz Sharif merely condemned the act. The travesty is not lost on people: words, appeasing words for the killers, not even daring to mention the perpetrators by name, and wringing of hands just for show have been the characteristic response from both the PTI and the PML-N. While one can and should condemn the likes of Maulana Fazl for taking a self-serving position, the power to change the dynamic vis a vis the Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism lies with those who call the shots. And these are none other at the moment but the PML-N and the PTI. Their procrastination in taking this venomously toxic bull by the horn is taking its toll on the very ethos of this nation and morale of its people.
While Imran Khan’s fixation can be blamed on his penchant for a single-track approach towards finding solutions whatever the issue, the PML-N and its leadership’s tepid response through inaction is indeed perplexing – despite it being a party of the right, with religion a major constituent of its politics. Nawaz Sharif’s agenda of economic progress, prosperity and growth – the plank on which he got the entire Punjabi forces of bazaar rally behind him – can by no means be fulfilled with bombs flying all over and people being killed by the scores. The PMLN and PTI must realize the gravity of the situation. Things are fast going out of control. If ever there was time to act firmly and take the battle to the killers, it is now.
