Government needs to evolve a clear strategy
Sartaj Aziz never claimed that the US had renounced drone attacks for good. He did not talk about any open-ended offer either. The United States, as he put it, had assured Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to suspend drone attacks during the talks with the Pakistani Taliban. The American gesture could even be interpreted as an incentive to the militants for the resumption of dialogue to end the fighting. If talks could not be initiated, the onus would be on the TTP which unilaterally called off the dialogue. Soon after the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud in a missile strike Ch Nisar, the interior minister and most ardent supporter of negotiations, was forced to throw up his hands in dismay in the National Assembly and proclaim, ’Peace talks with the TTP are over.’ While the death of Hakimullh Mehsud was a major loss for the TTP, the talks initiated with the avowed purpose of saving hundreds of innocent lives should not have been canceled. After all, didn’t the army support the government in talks in the wider national interest despite the killing of Maj Gen Sanaullah Niazi, which was claimed by Fazlullah? Why couldn’t the TTP follow suit? Whatever possibility was left of giving peace a chance was wasted by the statement subsequently issued by the militants, particularly the one by Shahidullah Shahid regarding suicide bombers having been dispatched to target security personnel and political leaders. The statement was not an empty threat, as the killing of security personnel in Bannu was to prove.
The drone attack in Hangu was quite unusual as it hit a target outside the tribal areas this time. Initial reports tell of the missiles hitting a seminary and killing a number of students and teachers. Was the attack launched to target some major Al Qaeda figure which it missed, killing innocent people instead? If so, it would further strengthen the anti-US feeling in the country, create problems for the elected government and put the proponents of the drone programme on further defensive. Or did the missile hit the bull’s eye by taking out the terrorists rather than non-combatants? Truth will be out, sooner than later.
With the talks over and missile strikes resumed, the government needs to evolve a new strategy to put an end to extremism and militancy. While it hammers out a policy and that too at the earliest, it needs to take urgent steps to secure the people against terrorist attack.