What the Peshawar attack has changed, and what not
It was good to see all parliamentary leaders expressing solidarity with the families of the victims of terrorism in Peshawar. It was also a sensible decision on the part of Imran Khan to announce an end to his more than four-month-old sit-in.
However those who hoped that Nawaz Sharif was going to announce a new plan of action against the terrorists were expecting too much. The PM had nothing new to say except that he had accepted the army’s demand to hang those already sentenced to death for terrorist acts. Will this deter those who think the martyrdom thus achieved is a ticket to paradise? There was nothing new about assurance that the ongoing operation is without cherry-picking. The COAS had already reiterated the stand recently in the US. The statement has though made little difference on ground. This has not stopped the anti-Shia terrorist groups from continuing their attacks inside the country or from launching cross-border raids inside Iran. Similarly despite agreement between Islamabad and Kabul against harbouring terrorists, Fazlullah continues to target Swat and Bajaur from the Afghan soil and has orchestrated the latest horror in Peshawar.
The only positive thing to emerge from the meeting is the ownership of the ongoing war against the Pakistani Taliban by all parliamentary parties. Keeping in view the position taken by the JI and PTI till recently, who called it a war being fought in the interest of the US rather than Pakistan, only time will show if the realisation is more than skin deep.
A parliamentary committee comprising ideologically divided parties and chaired by Ch Nisar who is hesitant to denounce the TTP by name is required to chalk out a national plan of action in seven days. A lot of things already decided have remain unimplemented like the NACTA. The Supreme Court’s directions about reforming the school curriculum to promote tolerance too have not been implemented. While one wishes the committee Godspeed, one does so with the trepidation of the heart.