Another non-starter?
Time has come to question the government about the National Action Plan (NAP) that does not seem to come alive beyond official rhetoric and bureaucratic paperwork. Much time has passed – more than 100 days – since it was knitted together in the aftermath of the Peshawar tragedy. Going by the rare show of public and political unity, it seemed both Islamabad and Rawalpindi had finally come round to a wholesome and definitive action plan regarding our own war against terrorism. But now the press is rightly questioning the political will behind the exercise.
The reason is that we are no closer today to realising some of the Plan’s most important features than when it was floated. The matter of terrorist funding, for example, is still a mystery; at least to the public. And let’s even not mention the many problems regarding registering religious seminaries. Judging by the government’s ‘body language’, there is still a while to go before its boasts can come to fruition. It’s not just that the ruling party was taken aback by the madrassahs’ stiff reaction to registration. That much was expected. It’s how quickly it was willing to put the matter once again on the back burner. Naively, it thinks it will be better placed coming back to the matter once the more muscular part of Zarb-e-Azb is wrapped up in Waziristan.
And there was no better example of the government’s soft feet than the Ch Nisar episode regarding the lal masjid. When the clerics rebuked the interior minister’s claim of a written apology, it was the interior ministry, and therefore the government, that they accused of lying. That the government simply went mute subsequently ironically spoke volumes about its cluelessness regarding the matter. There have also been five high profile attacks against religious minorities in this time; three against the Shi’a and two against Christians. Yet the government seems more concerned about its ‘responsibilities’ in far away Yemen than in the heart and veins of Pakistan. The government is warned, in no uncertain terms, that such attitude will not win this war. And we will not be of much to our friends either if we continue to crumble from within. The authorities must turn their attention to the NAP. There’s still time to turn things around provided there is adequate will at the top.
