The Achilles’ heel, once again

Nawaz’s old tendencies reasserting themselves

The earlier gross security lapses at Karachi airport were followed by an inept handling of the situation after the attackers had been killed. The operation was declared successful and the airport handed over to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Nobody meanwhile took notice of the repeated SOS mobile calls from seven workers trapped inside the cold storage facility at the airport. No importance was given to their families’ protests either, who had blocked a road demanding urgent measures to save the lives of their kin. Twenty-eight hours later, when the rescuers finally reached them, they only found charred bodies that could be hardly recognised. The explanation given that the CAA does not possess the heavy machinery needed to reach to them in real time raises more questions. Many think what happened was the outcome of sheer apathy.

The TTP had brazenly owned the attack on Karachi airport. This led even Imran Khan’s PTI to condemn the terrorist network by name. Ch Nisar, however, avoided uttering a single word of censure against the TTP. He didn’t go beyond accusing ‘foreign and local elements’ and mumbled about clues pointing towards the involvement of a country on the basis of the weapons recovered from the site. This was seen by some as an attempt to take attention away from the TTP. What is more, Nisar trained his guns on the Sindh government. As expected, this led to a vitriolic repartee from Sindh information minister, Sharjeel Memon.

Within the short span of a year some of the old tendencies in Nawaz Sharif have begun to reassert themselves. He fails to realise the importance of taking vital decisions on time. He could have intervened on the very first day to stop the emerging stand-off between the ISI and GEO. Instead he let the things take their own course. This was bound to lead to negative consequences for the media as well as the government. There has been costly delay in finalising a realistic policy towards the TTP. Six months were spent in preparing for talks with the militants, leading finally to just one meeting with no outcome. In a country where other players are waiting in the wings to extend their sphere of influence, this provides them an opportunity to utilise the situation in their favour. As the decisions taken at the Tuesday meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security indicate, the authority to take decisions is gradually slipping out of Nawaz Sharif’s hands. He is no more seen to be playing the central role in matters related to national security where the army is in the driving seat. If things continue to move in this direction, the PMLN government will be no more calling shots on issues related to foreign policy, particularly relations with the neighbouring countries.