The government is against an uphill task
Shamim Shahid
Whatever is the basis for the claim of the Nawaz government regarding a negotiated settlement of the terrorism issue, it has encouraged the terrorist organisations, despite divisions and rifts among them, to extend their terror network throughout the country, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after ruining writ of law in tribal areas.
Even the terrorists are divided on the issue of holding talks with the government. The leader of the banned TTP, Mullah Fazalullah, is against dialogue and reconciliation with the government while many of his affiliates and his loyalists of both Hakimullah Mehsud and Mufti Waliur Rehman, along with the leaders of Punjabi Taliban, are in favour of dialogue.
Soon after coming into power, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the party in power, declared to focus on political ways rather than military action for tackling the inherited issue of terrorism. Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, the party in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, focused all of its strategies on “Pakistan’s disassociation from war on terror” while considering the ongoing terrorism as a reaction to the US drone attacks. This despite the fact that the policies of the previous Pakistan Peoples Party-led coalition government were based on three D’s: Dialogue, Development and Deterrence. And before that Pervez Musharraf’s policies were based on how the US wanted them to be though the three D’s formula was introduced by him. However, Pervez Musharraf’s dual standards on the issue not only led to losses to both the people and properties but also it damaged the image of the country at the global level.
No one can deny the fact that till mid-2010, the three D’, pursued by the PPP and its allies, especially Awami National Party, remained fruitful. But the issue became complicated when the militants in reaction went after the ANP leaders, stalwarts and office bearers throughout the country. An operation, called Raah-i-Raast, was launched with the help of the armed forces in Swat, Malakand division, and became a success story, appreciated by the United States and many others. The militants, loyal to Fazalullah, escaped to Afghanistan.
But after mid-2010, the ANP leadership was caught into troubles. Not only the leaders and stalwarts of all the political parties, but also the custodians of highly powerful institutions and media, except for former President Asif Ali Zardari and former Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, had their eyes set on the ANP leaders. On one hand, the ANP leaders were the target of militants; on the other they fell prey to media’s anger and allegations of other rival political contemporaries. This was the reward that the ANP leaders had got for their role and contribution in going ahead with Pervez Musharraf’s three D’s strategy for tackling the issue of militancy.
Like militants, there are divisions amongst the political forces and state organs on the issue of militancy and terrorism. Religious parties and their leaders are known to have for soft corner for the terrorists. PML-N’s leaders who are governing Punjab since February 2008 have well established links with the leaders and stalwarts of banned Sepah-e-Sahaba and Lashkar-i-Jangavi, two banned sectarian terrorist outfits who are also working closely with the Punjabi Taliban. These outfits works like “bureaucracy” for the TTP in North Waziristan and influence its activities like who to target and who to bomb, along with other crimes like target killings and kidnapping for ransom.
It is ironic that instead of approaching the leaders Punjabi Taliban and Saudi Arabia’s loyal Jumaat-ud-Dawa, also known as Lashkar-e-Tayaba, a militant organisation of the Wahabi school of thought, Mian Nawaz Sharif first approached Jamiat-ul-Ulema Islam-F Chief Maulana Fazalur Rehman and later his rival Maulana Sami-ul-Haq of JUI-S. Both of them are respected but they have almost no influence amongst the ranks of militants.
Though government, especially Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, claims that they are in contacts with the militants through mediators for dialogues, he has never made public the names of those Taliban who support dialogues. The number of militant groups is now touching 50, 30 of which are operating in Karachi alone. In each group, the self-styled commanders have established their own pressure groups. To get them all on board for peace talks is an almost impossible task.
Shahidullah Shahid, who was recently restored as TTP spokesman, has already declared that Mullah Fazalullah is against holding dialogue with the government. While Asmatullah Shaheen, leading Hakimullah’s supporters and followers, conditionally supports dialogues. They insist on honouring Hakimullah Mehsud’s conditions like adjustment of 25,000 to 40,000 militants in government institutions by offering jobs, especially in the security forces, compensating families of all militants and release of up to 5,000 militants, imprisoned in various jails. The high-ups in government institutions, especially armed forces, are against such demands. On such grounds, there is little hope that the government will succeed in handling the issue of militancy and terrorism through peaceful and political ways.
The writer is a Peshawar based journalist.
