Nawaz and the NAP

Again, more talk than action

The prime minister has put the nation in a dilemma. No doubt he’s had much on his plate for quite some time now. The electricity crisis has been unrelenting, but there was also worsening security to deal with, then the dharna paralysed the government, then the gas crisis came, and now there’s the fuel crisis. It didn’t help, of course, that his government went out of the way to muddy the waters with the military; regarding the military offensive as well as Gen Musharraf’s trial. But Peshawar gave him the opportunity to reinvent himself and the government. The scale of the tragedy united the political front under his command. All he had to do was follow the check list; remove the terrorists, then their sanctuaries, then their sympathisers, etc.

But progress since Peshawar has left a little to be desired. Nawaz’s high-level security meeting to discuss the National Action Plan yesterday could have been taken for an extension of his flurry of meetings to address the oil crisis. Each time there were promises, but little action, save the typical forming of committees and the odd suspension here and there. It is of concern, to say the least, that headlines coming out of the meeting – almost 40 days after the tragedy – still spoke of ‘terrorists and abettors” to be targeted, etc. He also said that the government’s seriousness to counter terrorism should not be doubted. That’s all fine – and has been for some time – yet there’s still no hint of a concrete to-do list; what will be the next phase of the operation, will outfits operating from Punjab and Sindh be targeted, will sectarian terrorism finally be addressed? And regarding sympathisers, why the silence on Lal Masjid despite official confirmation of its threat level? And why the contradicting statements on Haqqani Network and JuD?

The ISPR made headlines, too, by lashing out against doubts about the military’s ability to deal with the problem. While there is no doubt that the forces can get a handle on the insurgency, they should be a little more transparent about the operation. So far we have been told how many terrorists have been killed, and how much of NW has been secured, but there’s neither independent authentication nor detailed explanation. Interestingly the couple of names that did come out were US wanted terrorists, and were killed when Gen Sharif was in Washington. Considering that this is a pivotal moment in an existential war, the people should be brought up to speed. And the government must realise that it does itself, and the country, no favours by waving its fists when it is unable to deliver on the ground. The prime minister is in danger of losing the unity that came in the wake of the Peshawar attack.