The message from TTP

Agree to our terms or we will continue our ways

Those keen to bring peace through talks were promising that the Samiul Haq committee would come back with a positive message from the TTP. The negotiating committee has returned. It has shared the details of the talks with the JUI-S chief. The TTP demands however were not made public by the Maulana who somberly told the media that the issue of peace was complicated and could not be resolved in a short time. He was not keen to urgently call the government committee for a meeting though the latter was anxiously waiting for the delegation’s return. The meeting would be held in a day or two, he said. He appealed to the media to react cautiously. The message from the other side is presumably different from what the supporters of talks had expected. The delay is aimed at buying time to give the TTP reply a spin.

This leads one to conclude that the list of 15 demands made public by the media a day earlier was probably correct. On Sunday Maulana Abdul Aziz, another member of the Samiul Haq committee, had reiterated the stand that the country’s constitution was a British innovation and it violated the Sharia. He had predicted that the talks with the TTP would not succeed and in case any agreement was brokered it would turn out to be short lived.

The majority of the 15 demands by the TTP would be unacceptable to any responsible state. Demands like the restoration or compensation for property damaged in drone attacks and offer of jobs to the families of victims have some sense. But expecting that the government could put a stop to drone attacks is utterly senseless. And how can the government free the jailed Pakistani and foreign Taliban, particularly those who have been involved in bombing and killing civilians or launching attacks on armed forces or who have been sentenced by the courts? How can the troops be recalled from tribal areas or be replaced with militia, where they have established the writ of the state through gallantry and sacrifice before the government has fully established its grip? How can criminal allegations be withdrawn against Taliban accused of heinous crimes? Pakistan was visualised as a democracy by its founding fathers. To seek the replacement of the democratic system with anything else is unacceptable to the vast majority of Pakistanis. Pakistan may not agree with Washington’s policies but demanding that the government breaks off relations with the US is simply bizarre.

Pakistan’s destiny is tied up with democracy and rule of law. Democracy allows all schools of thought to propagate their views and try to convert the people to their point of view as long as they do not preach violence or take up arms against the state. This is the redline nobody should ever be allowed to cross.