Too slow on the draw
There’s been some movement since Peshawar, but a lot more needs to be done, and a lot faster. Lifting the moratorium on the death penalty was wise and logical, even though the push had to come from the military with Islamabad, as usual, behind the curve. The shutdown of educational institutes in Punjab on Friday, especially Lahore, showed that the intelligence machinery has become more proactive than the recent past. And Gen Raheel made some serious points in Kabul. They better help with netting Fazlullah, or we will go ahead ourselves, seems to have been the tone.
Yet there is also cause for worry. That the government still needed a week to work out its response speaks volumes about its distance from reality. First it was not willing to take the bull by the horns, and insisted on talking even as the Taliban continued attacking sensitive targets. Then they had to be pushed into the operation by the military after the Karachi airport attack. And now, well into Zarb-e-Azb, when the military is close to clearing North Waziristan and move down to main cities, the government is still without a strategy. Nawaz Sharif may have won crucial political support, but with his own think-tank frozen, there is little hope for him, or the country, to come out of this mess any safer.
Once through with the condolences, the prime minister should have immediately outlined an action plan. He should have announced an immediate sweep, across the country, of the villains and their apologists. And those that continue to sympathise with the Taliban, especially after Peshawar, should have been put in their place as soon as they uttered their provocative pronouncements. Sadly, none of these measures were taken. It is still hoped that the prime minister will take the big picture into consideration when formulating his response. Executing those on death row for years, and bombing the rest of TTP from Waziristan, while good measures, are not the final solution. The PM will have to show he means business, and his response will have to be aggressive and determined. He owes it to the little innocent children who were killed as we sat helplessly. He owes it to their parents, and to the rest of the country. So far, though, he has been too slow on the draw.