Will it really be a game changer?

Doesn’t appear to be so

Comparing 9/11 with Peshawar massacre Sartaj Aziz has called the latter a game changer. There is a perception that unless there is a genuine change of heart in civil and military leadership, the incident may not prove to be more than a blip in the country’s way down. What one sees happening are no more than reactive measures. Once the momentous impact of the Peshawar tragedy, where those who could have stopped it from happening were caught napping, is over and the public pressure has eased, things could still return to business as usual. It could only be a game changer if the political and military players change the security paradigm, concentrate on the enemy within, strengthen the enervated and practically non-functional civil institutions and adopt a policy of genuine non-interference in neigbouruing countries.

What Afghan President is reported to have told media after his meeting with Gen Raheel Sharif was indicative of the persisting Afghan worries regarding external sources of terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan. To seek genuine cooperation from Kabul it is imperative to address Afghan reservations. It is curious that all assurances of mutual cooperation in removing terrorists have come from Pakistan. It would have been more significant if these had come from President Ghani also.

The ongoing countrywide operation against the terrorists reveals the sad state of the civil institutions. The fears expressed by IG Prisons, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, are shared by his counterparts in other provinces also. Police officers have in the past admitted they lack the training and equipment needed to cope with the terrorists. Islamabad University has been closed indefinitely because it has no security wall. Ditto the schools in Punjab.

The Peshawar incident can become a watershed only if the civil and military leadership concentrate on eradicating extremism, the well head of all terrorism. As things stand the government is unwilling even to deter the Lal Majid cleric, an employee of the government, from uttering sentiments supportive of the terrorists.