Change of heart or perception?
Imran’s new position on the Taliban is definitely a departure from his previous one, which was perhaps deliberately kept a little ambiguous, yet there was no denying a soft corner of sorts. Time was, not too long before Zarb-e-Azb took off, that not just the chairman but party MNAs would refuse to dub TTP ‘terrorist’ on live prime time terrorism. And why lobby for a public office for the TTP if they were, in your opinion, terrorists who kill innocent people?
But back than PTI was not the only party advocating, in one way or another, a light approach for the Taliban. The far right outright embraced it. “The Taliban are not fighting against Pakistan, they are fighting for Pakistan”, said Maulana Samiul Haq when Nawaz Sharif first tasked him to talk to the TTP. And the ruling party wanted to keep talking even when the military put its foot down and went ahead with the Operation. But since then most parties, especially PML-N, have fallen in line. All this while Imran has also sided with the cleansing, and no more made demands for the Taliban to have offices in main cities.
This turnaround, most likely, is just like everyone else’s. Besides, this is not the right time to express support, or sympathy, for militants no matter how much those on the right dress them in religious colours. Yet that doesn’t mean PTI has done a complete about turn. It’s just as passionate about the madrassa donation, for example, still defending the extravagant grant to Madrassa Haqqania. Rather than mainstreaming seminaries, these steps are likely to empower extremists with more sophistication as well as finances. Imran Khan needs reminding it’s not just the TTP that needs to be eliminated, but also the habitat that nurtures such elements from the beginning. And dumping large sums onto madrassas is hardly a guarantee of ‘mainstreaming’. If PTI is really a progressive party, it’ll have to become more progressive in its positions and actions as well.
