Don’t shirk responsibilities

Step up, Mr Prime Minister

The government and the TTP have decided to hold direct talks instead of employing intermediaries. The present committees, it has been pointed out, did not have the authority to take major decisions on their own. The government would now appoint a new powerful committee which would be able to take vital decisions during the negotiations. It is believed that this would hasten the peace process. The new committee would reportedly be constituted in a couple of days. The delay presumably is meant to allow the prime minister to discuss the issue with the COAS who is out of the country.

The exact composition of the proposed committee is yet to be revealed. A couple of members in the present team have suggested that besides political leaders the committee should also have representation from the military which they consider will make it more effective. According to them this would help expedite decisions. The suggestion has elicited a strong reaction from important leaders.

Opposition Leader in NA Khursheed Shah has opposed the induction of the army personnel on the ground that armed forces are meant to obey the government and their involvement in talks with the terrorists would indicate that the institution still acts as an independent and parallel decision making body. Army personnel, according to Shah, can only be included in a committee meant to work out the details of a ceasefire with an enemy country. According to him, only a former member of the armed forces could be inducted in the peace talks. What is more, the terrorists being the murderers of 60,000 Pakistanis it would be unfortunate to see the army sitting with them. The PML-Q President Ch Shujaat Hussain has also questioned the propriety of involving the military in dialogue with the Taliban.

In a democracy it is the civilian government that formulates policies while the military is meant to implement them. It has been widely noted however that the PML-N government has hesitated taking a clear cut stand on the option of the use of force against the Taliban. Even on occasions when there was a clear national consensus to use force against the TTP – as after the killing and desecration of the bodies of 23 FC personnel by the Mohmand chapter of TTP on the orders of Omar Khorasani who is a senior member of its Shura – the government shrank back from taking the responsibility. The strike in North Waziristan was described as an act of self defence by the army rather than a decision by the government. It is time the prime minister owns policy decisions required by the present situation instead of leaving them to the armed forces.