After the hour-long marathon press conference on steps being taken by government to combat the ongoing terrorism in the country, Interior Minister Ch Nisar couldn’t hide what was really on his mind. When confronted by a reporter that he didn’t use word ‘Taliban’ in his long press release, he retorted back that ‘not every Talib is a terrorist’. He tried to confuse the reporters with the literal meaning of ‘Talib’ – the student. We all know Pakistani Taliban is a loose group of not only the militant students from seminaries but also the criminals from other walks of life.
The other day, Irfan Siddique, special advisor on National Affairs, provided a safe way to Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid. While commenting on Abdul Aziz’s refusal to condemn Peshawar massacre of army school students, Siddique brushed away the negativity created by Abdul Aziz terming it ‘just a matter of a difference of opinion’. Three weeks back, Sartaj Aziz, advisor to prime mister on security affairs, stroked a controversy by questioning why Pakistan should target those Taliban who are residing in Pakistan but not confronting Pakistani forces (instead attacking Afghanistan). Not long ago Punjab chief minister also asked Taliban to spare Punjab (at the expense of other provinces) from their attacks as Punjab government was not direct confrontation with Taliban.
Should we expect any good from this bunch of ministers and advisors? No way. These are the same people who forced PPP government in 2009 to handover Swat valley to Sufi Mohammad and Mullah Fazlullah. Now all Pakistan is suffering with the brutality of Fazlullah and his group. It is the same group of ministers and advisors who dragged the so-called ‘peace dialogue’ with Taliban early this year and ensured army shouldn’t take any action against them before summer, giving an upper edge to Taliban.
Tell me who is not aware that Pakistan is infested with loads of lashkars, jaishs, jamaats and jamiats, all these sectarian outfits are working hand-in-hand with Taliban. Operation in North Waziristan or hanging of few convicted terrorists won’t make any difference until a real action against the ideological, financial and materialistic backers is taken.
I must be asking a tough question as we don’t have anyone in this lot who can bell the cat.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia
