What about the Tehriks, Lashkars and Jaishs?
Despite devastating attacks that killed over 150 innocent people in a week followed by incidents of terrorism on an almost daily basis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government remains stuck to the tack of talks with the TTP. This is indicated by the remarks made by Sartaj Aziz on Thursday. As the Peshawar Church attack came on the eve of Nawaz Sharif’s departure for New York to address the United Nations General Assembly, the government circles believed the motive behind it was to create embarrassment for Pakistan. Since the TTP refused to own the attack, the finger is now being pointed at the so-called foreign hand behind the ongoing violence. It would however be unrealistic on the part of the government to lose focus on account of the ongoing blame game between India and Pakistan after the incidents along the LoC. The possibility of Indian security agencies’ involvement in some of the incidents of the sort cannot be ruled out, particularly in Balochistan. However it must not be forgotten that the ongoing terrorist activity in the country is homegrown and is routinely owned by organizations like the TTP, LeJ, the Swat Taliban and the Punjabi Taliban. Recently the Mohmand chapter of the TTP acknowledged the attack on the under-construction Ghalani dam. On Thursday, the TTP again owned an attack on a compound in Orakzai killing 13.
The government seems to be determined to go ahead with the talks. It has now reversed the long standing ‘ideological position’ in support of capital punishment in the wake of the TTP threat of reprisals. While the reason given is the opposition by the EU to capital punishment, most people consider the excuse as no more than a fig leaf as the PML-N, which has been twice in power before its present stint, had been aware of the EU’s position on the issue all along. The government has in fact changed its position to keep the dialogue alive. It needs now to urgently initiate the talks and find if the militants are genuinely interested in peace. One expects the government however not to compromise on the constitution and instead it should persuade the militants to cease violence forthwith, drop the demands to recall the army from tribal areas and release its prisoners. The army cannot presently be withdrawn from FATA or Swat where it has established the writ of the state after great sacrifices in life and treasure. Similarly terrorists charged with committing heinous crimes or awarded punishments by courts must not be set free.
Rehman Malik often complained of a foreign hand behind the terrorist acts to cover up his own ministry’s failings. He however was an equal failure in to presenting any solid evidence that could convince the independent observers. One expects a better performance from Ch. Nisar Ali Khan. It won’t do ignoring the public acknowledgments by the TTP and its allies of their horrendous attacks as well as confessional statements recorded and evidence produced before the courts and instead attributing their misdeeds to the so called foreign hand.
