A government in panic

And incapable of calibrated response

It is quite befuddling. The US has done Pakistan a double favour, by eliminating state enemy No 1, Hakimullah Mehsud, the ignominious head of the dastardly TTP that has wreaked havoc in Pakistan. Previously the US forces had also detained his No 2 Latifullah in Afghanistan where he had been called over by the Afghan intelligence to collaborate on how best to hammer Pakistan’s armed forces, assets and installations and unleash reign of terror and devastation across the country. And instead of being grateful, the rage of the entire government and the PTI supremo Imran Khan against the US knows no bounds. The interior minister Ch Nisar annexed the foreign minister’s mantle and threatened to “review bilateral relations with the United States”. Imran too has issued dire warning of blocking the NATO supplies from passing through KP.

Are we completely devoid of rational discourse and calibrated response? Hysteria was created after the Salala incident, and the US may have suffered by the blockade, but Pakistan too was not a beneficiary of that brinkmanship. Now when the relationship has barely been set right, why rock the boat? And for Hakimullah and the Taliban, who have not allowed a moment of peace to this hapless nation despite the PML-N, PTI combine devoting itself just to the ‘talks only’ mantra? If one were to believe Nisar and Imran, had the precision strike not taken place, it would have been all hunky-dory, milk and honey would have been flowing. And the United States has spoiled our party. Nothing of the sort was happening. The talks – and this is where Ch Nisar’s failure lies – had not even been initiated even after two months of the much-craved-for consensus through APC. And here it is being portrayed as if these were on the verge of success and the peace was about to be sealed, signed and delivered!

The PML-N and its ranks need to reflect on the fact that they are no longer in the opposition. The nation expects them to govern and not rise in protest. The TTP is an implacable foe. It will strike back. Yet there is scant need to panic. The PML-N government has at its disposal the state’s coercive machinery– one of the largest armies in the world and an intelligence apparatus that arrogates itself at being as topnotch as it could get – especially in our neck of the woods. Why then the helplessness of a rabbit caught in a hunter’s headlights?