More to it than just napping!
The National Action Plan (NAP) was an indication of Pakistan finally overcoming its lethargy in order to eradicate militancy from the society. However various events have rendered the capacity of the administrative machinery to deliver the promised outcome doubtful.
NAP’s execution was questioned when Shuja Khanzada, the home minister of Punjab, was assassinated last Sunday. To many the event signified the lack of requisite security and intelligence set up.
However, Sheikh Waqas Akram of PML-N thinks otherwise.
“I disagree with the critics who question the commitment to implement NAP, he told DNA. “Shuja Khanzada’s martyrdom is a reaction by the militants. Now would there have been any reaction unless some action was being taken?” he said.
“There must be something right that we have done that troubled these savages.”
Earlier, Pervaiz Rashid had faced the vengeance of seminaries when he showed an initiative to reform them. He eventually had to apologise! With such sway of the seminaries on our societal fabric, NAP sounds shady at times.
Another life lost to militancy
While Khanzada’s demise has made critics raise fingers at the official commitment to NAP, many think this was inevitable in retaliation to Punjab police’s killing of the LeJ chief.
Salman Zaidi, the Deputy Director at Jinnah Institute, Islamabad is one of those.
“I don’t see it as a failure of NAP,” he told DNA.
“Rather, this is an example of high profile targets taken out by militants, and there will be more in the long run. Shuja Khanzada had taken over Southern Punjab, and lately shown interest in eliminating sectarian terrorism. This is a red line not many would dare to cross, so the attack did not come off as a surprise.”
He further talked about this sad incident as a reflection the times.
“Now Shuja Khanzada’s assassination is not an incident that should be condoned; but such incidents give us the opportunity to stop and rethink,” he explained.
Akram explained how the event pointed out to the frustration of the militants.
“Murdering the provincial home minister has dangerous consequences. Why would any organisation take such a step had they not feared that they were already on the verge of elimination?” he questioned. “This is precisely why they started hunting down our officials.”
The assassination was hence a retaliation to the fact that the government had finally started taking strict action, rather than trying to appease the terrorists.
So this could have been seen coming. Common sense dictates some sort of security and intelligence should have been in to protect the “Dabang” of Punjab, as Khanzada had been labelled.
“The assassination was predictable,” said Ali Arqam, a journalist and researcher based in Karachi. “There should have been some sort of master intelligence to avoid this incident.”
After such tragedies we tend to glorify our fallen “Shaheed”. Ejaz Chaudhry of PTI thinks this is necessary.
“Glorifying the martyrs is very important,” he explained. “Faith is a collective matter, and unless it is registered in front of the people that such people assassinated while fighting against terrorism are martyrs, their blood will go wasted as people will not be mobilised.”
The worst part however is that that’s all we do. We chant praises, swear revenge and then sit back to wait for our next knight to fall. This started back in 1951 when Liaquat Ali Khan was martyred. Culprits hardly get caught. Let us hope that some solid retaliation is seen on the part of the government this time.
While Khanzada’s demise has made critics raise fingers at the official commitment to NAP, many think this was inevitable in retaliation to Punjab police’s killing of the LeJ chief
The challenges, the costs and the critics
Khanzada’s assassination has made the critics bash the government yet again for its lack of commitment to NAP.
“Had NAP been fully implemented till now, then marked improvement would have been observed,” Ejaz Chaudhry commented.
It is common knowledge that a web of militants has engulfed our society. And unless that web itself is broken down, no visible change can be brought.
Ali Arqam supported this fact.
“Terrorism is the product of the entire network spread in our society. We have always targeted individuals, rather than locating them in the web of terrorism.”
Akram however defended the government. “These things take time, and 5-10 years is a normal span of time for such clean-ups. And I feel we are moving in the right direction,” he explained.
This explanation is however not enough to cool down the criticism being hurled the government’s way.
“The government’s commitment to NAP is definitely questionable, as only 3-4 points are being worked on out of around 20,” Chaudhry explained.
“The related officials themselves questioning the feasibility, since according to them sufficient budgetary allocation was not made. Now can we hold anyone accountable for the results if sufficient budget has not been allocated?”
He further questioned the character of the government officials themselves by citing the recent scandals.
“The sad part is that officials themselves have links with the militants. An example in this regard is the statement of Mr Sher Ali on Rana Sanaullah being the patron of target killers; and the allegation that he wants another two MPAs and one MNA killed.”
Zaidi thinks that although the military has done a lot, the civilian apparatus still needs to pull its socks up.
“There is this dichotomy when it comes to ensuring security. There is the civilian government, who should do more, and then there are the military actors, who have undoubtedly been the leaders in this domain,” he explained.
While a lot of hue and cry is being raised about NAP and the attitude of the government, it is high time that we stop criticising for the sake of criticising and understand the constraints and challenges that lie in the way of the government. The stronghold of the seminaries and the magnitude of the network itself are challenges that cannot be overlooked.
“Of course there are challenges,” Akram said.
“Public sentiments hurdle the government on reforms of seminaries. Isn’t it funny that molestation of our kids in Kasur does not lead to any statements from our clerics, but any attempt to reform the seminaries leads to hue and cry?”
“The second challenge is keeping a check on the police. As many times police officers themselves collude with local militants for mutual gains,” he added.
Zaidi also highlighted certain constraints.
“There are severe capacity constraints, especially on the civilian side, and they have been trying both through brawns and brains to overcome these. However, there is a lot more to do. Things will take some time.”
However, Chaudhry clearly nullified any excuses by commenting “where there is a will, there is a way.”
Ali Arqam agrees to the problems in reforming militancy — inducing seminaries by relating it to the way the Pakistani system has been programmed.
“Our dilemma is that we kept trying to make people good Pakistanis till 1972, and then we resorted to making them good Muslims,” he said. “This is the root cause of all problems. Stephen Cohen, the analyst on Pakistan, has also highlighted such issues.”
Therefore the short-sightedness of the concerned personnel, the tendency of our society to appease the clerics, the span and magnitude of the problem, short-term uncontrollability of the militants’ networks, the presence of black sheep in the security agencies and capacity constraints are serious hurdles that impede significant progress in this domain. Due to such loopholes in the system, we have to bear the costs of doing the right things in the form assassinations after assassinations. Khanzada’s demise highlights the sorry state of affairs in which ironically not even the stalwarts of security are safe.
We aren’t really napping on NAP
There has been a notion of NAP not being taken seriously; and that the high command is napping on NAP. While progress could be better, no one can reject deny that advancement has actually been made. There has been implementation as the following figure highlights. However certain areas of NAP have not been initiated. Reforms of seminaries is one of them, but let us give the government room to breathe, hoping that these issues will be given consideration too.
Even the opposition would agree.
“Well yes there has been marked improvement in the security situation, but only on the part of the military,” said Ejaz Chaudhry. A conditional acknowledgment was made, but it was made anyway.
Zaidi, being a security expert, also applauded the progress. “We are moving in the right direction for sure. Karachi is an indication of where we have gone. The situation is dramatically different from last year, and hopefully it will be still different in 2016.” He sounded hopeful.
Ali Arqam holds similar views. “The promising outcome of the entire war on terrorism is that the narrative of the media has completely changed,” he presented his take from a different angle.
“No one calls dead militants martyrs any longer. Fazlur Rehman and Imran Khan too have stopped pressing for negotiations with the Taliban. The nation has mobilised.”
Waqas Akram was confident that the government had finally started crippling the militancy-inducing networks.
“The progress has been good. In Karachi alone, the operation has led to destruction of 622 criminal gangs and around 67,000 arrests in just 3-4 months.” He cited examples in this regard.
Pakistan is on a cliff-hanger at this point on time. We are a nation that is mobilised but lacks the security apparatus and capacity to rid society of terrorism
“Let me quote another example,” he went on. “The Sipah-e-Sahaba was too scared to announce Malik Ishaq’s death from their mosques at Jhang. Now we are talking about a town where this organisation had a stronghold. But the government has set enough examples,” he commented.
“When the militant labelled sheeshnaag was hanged as a part of NAP, his funeral prayers were held and the government filed terrorism charges against those who raised slogans in his favour,” he further built his argument. “This time they could not even announce a death!”
Pakistan still has a lot of homework to do. However it will be unfair to declare that NAP is not being taken seriously, as such comments would disrespect everyone who has been making sincere efforts to revolutionise the security apparatus of the country.
The future – how it looks and how it should be
If the pace is accelerated, or even maintained for that matter, militancy will eventually be gone. The determination of the nation in this regard is remarkable.
“Never before was the whole nation as mobilised as it is now,” Chaudhry pointed out the facts. “Therefore the government should not disappoint the masses. Most importantly, we have to think beyond party politics; otherwise all politicians will be defensive of their own policies. And I am hopeful that positive consequences will follow if the NAP is fully implemented.”
However he was wary of the bashing army faces now and then about clandestine intentions to stage another coup. “The trend has been to criticise the military and the LEAs in the last couple of months,” he lamented. “Asif Ali Zardari, Altaf Hussain and various ministers have been criticising the army constantly. Contrarily, the political units have not been able to come up with a sustainable political policy.”
It is time that we think over Khanzada’s assassination and see what can be done about the future, and how things can turn out different in future.
“There is a need of a complete operation clean-up in Punjab too,” Chaudhry suggested. It is a dire need that the hideouts and sleeper cells be found out and then cleared.”
“There is a need to brush away militants’ supporters in every organisation and every capacity,” Akram suggested.
He also talked about a zero tolerance policy in this regard.
“No tolerance be shown towards any militant organisation, whether inside or outside Pakistan. We cannot pick and choose,” he stressed. “And there should be a coherent mechanism to break the network itself.”
What changes will NAP bring to our society? Zaidi was very hopeful in this regard. “There will be radical changes in our institutional arrangements, party politics, political values, agendas for political debate, and what political parties would say in the parliament,” he predicted.
Pakistan is on a cliff-hanger at this point on time. We are a nation that is mobilised but lacks the security apparatus and capacity to rid society of terrorism. However, the good thing is that capacity is being stretched, security forces and LEA’s are being engaged, action plans are being formulated and debates are being held among politicians.
A will to act is always followed by a way to act, and if certain constraints are overcome, we might see a new dawn down the road!
