Imran Khan should have accepted the daunting task of peace talks
In a surprise move, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) nominated Mr Imran Khan as one of the members of its team to negotiate a peace settlement with the four-member committee announced by the prime minister in his National Assembly address on 29 January, 2014. Taken aback and cornered in an awkward spot, he was quick to decline the offer even before he discussed it at his core committee meeting called on 3 February.
If he accepts, the credibility of his (unfair) label as Taliban Khan will be reinforced. If he refuses, he will be accused of running away from an opportunity to demonstrate his leadership and negotiating skills and once again become a hero who brought peace to the beleaguered nation.
Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) emerged as a major national political party in the 2013 general elections and won the command of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The sole moving spirit behind this spectacular success was Imran Khan’s perseverance in the political wilderness for over a decade during which he was no more than a one-man party. To his chagrin, the public deprived him the coveted slot of prime minister that has been his cherished dream.
Dissatisfied with the outcome, he refused to accept (selectively) the election results and decided to discredit the entire process. His party has since relentlessly campaigned for recounting of votes in several constituencies where his party lost and the verification of thumb impressions of the voters. Simultaneously, he merrily embraced the seats where his party candidates were declared successful and went ahead to form a coalition government in KP. At the national level, he diverted his focus towards agitation, protests and unbridled criticism of the federal government.
In support of the TTP claim that the drone attacks are a major factor contributing to their acts of terror and suicide bombings, the PTI staged dharnas at the main highways in KP to block the NATO supplies (while the provincial administration looked the other way). No other political party (except the coalition partners) deemed it fit to join hands. He followed the dharnas by embarking on a series of colourful public rallies starting from Lahore on December 22, 2013, and later at various locations in Punjab and Sindh that attracted sizable crowds. Imran Khan singled out and mercilessly targeted PML-N in his speeches and asked the government to step down.
Both the sit-ins and the rallies activated his party workers and gained some popular acclaim among its electorate and followers but have been inconsequential. The Americans reiterated their intention and their right to use drone attacks at their discretion and the prime minister publicly acknowledged he lacks sufficient influence to twist their arm. Likewise, neither any instant relief to the traumatic lives of the public was forthcoming nor any premature demise of the governments was in sight.
The people are beginning to comprehend the bitter fact that the politicians can promise the moon and anything under the sun during the election campaigns to get votes, but it is no more than rhetoric. The PTI slogan of change has not materialised just as the numerous promises made by the PML-N or the PPP during the election campaign have remained distant dreams. The government is presently resigned to the fact that the long term issues of terrorism, sectarianism, energy shortages and inflation are too complex to have quick-fix resolution.
Our people are quite receptive to the politics of agitation. The countless unemployed, idling away while waiting for an opportunity to knock, can be easily misled into a few hours of thrill by catchy slogans and indulged into destruction. Our short history illustrates that street agitation has invariably rocked the most stable boats and that our political system has been the victim of in-house political intrigues ever since the earliest days of our inception. Under the present circumstances, it appears that the public is in no mood to come out in the streets. Either it has lost the will to stand up and fight for its rights or it considers the alternatives to be equally bleak.
Suddenly, the prime minister pulled a rabbit out of a hat. As everyone expected marching orders, he sprang the peace initiative and a most unlikely negotiating committee. To our good fortune, all the political parties meekly endorsed, despite apprehensions of it being a shot in the dark. After all, miracles may be rare but they do happen!
Now it was the TTP’s turn to surprise. In an astute counter move, the TTP put forward the names of its committee comprising well known Taliban sympathisers chosen from our own legislators (except the Lal Masjid khateeb). If nothing else, the government’s master stroke has raised the hopes of the despondent public for an end to the atrocities they have been suffering from.
The two rivals in the province of KP, the PTI and JUI-F, at last agreed on one issue. They both pulled out, though for different reasons, but not before thanking the TTP for the honour. Only time will tell if it was an opportunity or a trap for Mr Imran Khan. The only apparent conclusion to be derived at this stage can be that a leader of substance has thrown away a chance to glory for fear of failure. His towering presence and his unflinching faith in the history of Pathans that he has so forcefully advocated could have altered the entire complexion of the dialogue.
The exit of the NATO forces by the end of this year and the Afghan Taliban getting a stronghold in the Afghan government in the post withdrawal period will significantly transform the power structure in the region. As our people have sacrificed thousands of innocent and precious lives, the TTP also had to bear the massacre of their leaders and fighters. The optimist may translate the talks offer by the TTP as an honest effort to cease the hostilities in return for some concessions. Mr Imran Khan should have accepted the daunting task as another challenge.
The writer is an engineer and an entrepreneur. He can be contacted at: [email protected].
Mr. Khan was right to refuse the poison chalice offered him by the TTP. It would have played into the hands of Mr. Khan's many enemies at home and abroad.
The fact is that the TTP have a one point agenda; the surrender of Pakistan and its deconstruction as a modern nation-state.
Whatever hopes nad dreams Pakistanis might have for a modern and prosperous future would be extinguished in the blink of a mad mullah eye should the TTP ever win.
A fear of failure, perhaps another man would have that fear, but I am sure Mr. Khan does not.
After reading this write-up my advice to writer is to confine himself to engineering unless it endangers public life and property.
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