Offering the other cheek to Taliban
This all sounds so trite and unimaginative, indeed. The Taliban have spurned talks, by word and by deed through elevating Mullah Radio as its honcho. Ehsanullah Ehsan, the TTP’s former spokesman presently leading the action as one of its commanders, places the possibility of talks at sub-zero. Yet, without batting an eyelid, the prime minister swears that he is committed to pursue the very same. Apparently the PM is yet to appreciate that for any negotiations somebody has to be first sitting at the other end of the table, and, second, be willing to compromise and cut a deal. Despite the government’s single track agenda since its installation in office in early June, the TTP has never shown any enthusiasm whatsoever for talks. If anything there was a surge in attacks, some of them the bloodiest ever witnessed in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, where ironically the PTI’s provincial government is most sympathetic to the Taliban since the MMA’s alliance ruled the roost between 2002 and 07. And all this transpired when Hakimullah Mehsud had not been taken out in a drone attack. So much for his death killing the talks!
Meanwhile, the centre is venturing to discuss with the KP government its ‘new talks strategy with the Taliban’ when the PTI is planning to block NATO supplies in protest to the drone strikes, which Ch Nisar, of all the people, dubs as ‘sentimental’ reaction. Taking such inane positions is creating a lot of confusion at a time when the TTP is baying for more blood, and promised vengeance on the Sharif’s so far spared stronghold, the Punjab. The PML-N and the PTI – particularly the former, for the latter can afford to be government and opposition at the same time a la Shahbaz Sharif when the PPP reigned at the centre – need to acknowledge that peace cannot be obtained on the cheap.
The PML-N and its leadership need to comprehend that staying frozen out of multiple fears – the Taliban reprisals and backlash from its core self-righteous trading constituency – is not going to work. The more it fears the TTP retaliation, the harder the Taliban would come at it. And it should nurture some confidence that its rightist credentials put it in an enviable position to coax the Taliban sympathizers into a volte face. After all, despite their pronounced religious bent, for the pragmatic mercantile classes the promise of peace dividend in adding value to their wealth in double quick time holds far greater attraction.