External and internal
All seemed fine on the counter-terrorism front till last Sunday. The dastardly assassination of Punjab home minister and anti terrorism czar Shuja Khanzada in his hometown was a rude wake-up call that we had merely scorched the snake not killed it.
Notwithstanding Shakespearean logic, a “zakhmi sanp” in our lexicon can be far more lethal and hence dangerous. With the taking out of the self-professed eliminator of the Shi’a, the most dangerous terrorist Malik Ishaq and his sons recently by the Punjab police, a blow back from the proscribed outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi was imminent.
It is obvious that the Punjab government failed to protect its own. Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan’s statement, that being the provincial home minister Khanzada was responsible for his own security, is a lame excuse bordering on insensitivity.
Much more was at stake in protecting the life of Khanzada than his person. The terrorists have conveyed their message loud and clear: “If you mess with us we will go for your top leadership”.
By this singular terrorist act the so-called uneasy ceasefire between the TTP and the Punjab leadership has rudely come to an end. Multifarious groups operating under the umbrella of the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) have taken the fight to the next level.
Although minorities and LEAs (law enforcing agencies) were fair game, political leadership in the province, despite being under grave threat, was never successfully targeted. This was bound to happen after Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, interfacing with the apex committees formed under the NAP (National Action Plan), vowed to go after the terrorist networks.
After the assassination of Khanzada the very next day MQM legislator Rashid Godil was gunned down in Karachi. He is struggling for his life in a local hospital.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Some say that it could possibly be an inside job. Or perhaps it is the doing of the one of the sleeper cells of terrorist groups holed up in the mega polis. Who knows with certainty?
Much more was at stake in protecting the life of Khanzada than his person. The terrorists have conveyed their message loud and clear: “If you mess with us we will go for your top leadership”
While the terrorists have thrown the gauntlet now it is up to the state to give a proportionate response. Notwithstanding claims to the contrary, that the terrorists are on the run, they are still posing a clear and present danger.
Pakistan is still a very dangerous place to live in. It is obvious that what the state has been tacitly nurturing since the Afghan jihad cannot be eliminated in a year or two.
The jihadists are literally entrenched within our vey fold. Unfortunately, it is a mindset that cannot be changed overnight merely by national action plans.
Even NAP has only been implemented piecemeal and sometimes half-heartedly. Hate speech, madrassa culture and a general propensity to blame everything on external factors to hide our own incompetence is thriving. And lack of political will is still order of the day.
Admittedly the military, on a purely strategic and tactical level, has done a tremendous job of squelching the hydra headed monster of terrorism. Now it is up to the politicians to meet the challenge more than half way. But if they fail to protect their own how can they instil a sense of security amongst the populace?
By killing Khanzada in his very abode the terrorists have conveyed the message loud and clear not to mess with them. Now it is up to the Punjab and the federal government to show some muscle hitherto lacking.
Unfortunately, while the domestic situation remains precarious Islamabad’s regional security environment has also deteriorated. Relations with Modi’s India have never been good. But consistent incursions by Indian forces on the LoC (line of actual control) in Kashmir have made matters worse.
On the other hand the honeymoon with the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has also proved to be short-lived. Ghani, unlike his predecessor Hamid Karzai, seemed more positive in engaging Pakistan. But with the Afghanistan’s internal situation fast deteriorating Islamabad is coming under consistent verbal attacks from him.
In the wake of border incidents in which a Pakistani soldier lost his life and members of Afghan security forces were also subsequently killed, Ghani angrily denouncing Islamabad declared that Kabul doesn’t want Pakistan to bring the Taliban to the negotiation table. That puts paid to the Islamabad sponsored Murree talks between Afghan Taliban and Kabul.
The way national security advisor level talks have been thrown into disarray is typical of the pressures related to dealing with India. The decision to meet the Hurriyat leadership is still the bone of contention, with neither side giving room.
In the present back drop nothing positive was expected to come out of the meeting anyway. Nonetheless jaw jaw is still better than fight fight.
Pakistan is still a very dangerous place to live in. It is obvious that what the state has been tacitly nurturing since the Afghan jihad cannot be eliminated in a year or two
In the meanwhile Narendra Modi is diplomatically on the rampage. Pakistan’s traditional friend the UAE, hosting an Indian prime minister after 35 years, has clearly shown its displeasure at Islamabad for refusing to play ball with the Gulf coalition in the Yemen conflict.
The joint communiqué issued at the end of the visit states that India and UAE condemn efforts, including by states, to use religion to sponsor terrorism against other countries. It is indeed ironical that Islamabad, for decades, had conveniently looked the other way while UAE and Saudi Arabia pumped billions of petro dollars to support jihadist networks in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Naturally with internal as well as regional security environment not conducive Islamabad should engage in some out of box thinking. Not only its foreign policy but also the manner in which it is being conduct needs an overhaul. The last two encounters between Sharif and Modi, in New Delhi last year and Ufa (Russia) recently, were a diplomatic disaster.
The self professed father of Afghan jihad and former ISI chief Hameed Gul passed away the other day. Well known to me he represented a wide swath of jihadist thinking in Pakistan.
I vividly recall that once he invited me to his ISI office for lunch. The dashing general who, disillusioned with Prime Minister Junejo, spearheaded talks on withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in Geneva, made a prophecy. He said in the older civilisation Taxila was the capital of the region. He emotionally emphasised, “but now you will see Islamabad will soon be the capital of the new Islamic civilisation.”
Gul died, his dream remaining unfulfilled. Unfortunately there are many who still nurture this dream. It’s time for a reality check.