The Taliban and the extremists bluff needs to be called
Many would readily agree with COAS Raheel Sharif that terrorist attacks must not be tolerated any more. Further that time has come to respond to these attacks with the full might of the state’s coercive machinery. The terrorists continue to strike indiscriminately sparing neither peaceful civilians nor army personnel performing their duty of safeguarding the country’s security. Attacking like wild beasts the terrorists spare neither old men and women nor children. The TTP started its campaign by eliminating the tribal elders so that there was no one to rally the tribesmen against the terrorists. The chiefs and members of the peace committees set up in the settled district were then dispatched. Claiming to establish the Sharia laws, the semi-literate Taliban fighters killed a number of prominent religious scholars who had declared suicide attacks un-Islamic. Score of mosques were attacked, some during Friday congregations, killing hundreds of unsuspecting worshipers. The TTP did not spare shrines or imambargahs. Religious minorities like Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and Ahmadis as well as those belonging to the Shia community became their special target. Even climbers from friendly countries were attacked. As if on a mission assigned by an enemy country, the TTP activists decapitated army men and destroyed costly military assets meant for national defence. The TTP and its affiliates committed crimes against the coming generations by spreading lies about the polio vaccination campaign. Failing to stop people from getting their children vaccinated the terrorists killed scores of volunteers and policemen guarding them. The spread of polio virus to other countries led to a travel ban slapped on unvaccinated Pakistanis first by Saudi Arabia and then by India.
The TTP continues to enjoy the support of a small but noisy lobby in the media and banned organizations working under new names. The speeches delivered on Saturday at a Difae Pakistan Council jirga in Peshawar represent the views of the extremist fringe.
The patience displayed by the government has led the terrorists to conclude that they can dictate to the state. Their bluff needs to be called. However unlike the terrorists the army is a disciplined force and must not act indiscriminately. Being an organ of the state, it has to act with extreme restraint even under the most trying circumstances. It must respect human rights and act in accordance with laws. Unless it does so it could alienate the population it wants to help, thus strengthening the terrorists.
