Forward and onward
Amidst reports of Pakistan’s heavy artillery being shifted to the Pak-Afghan border comes the announcement from the COAS Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa that Pakistan and Afghanistan will fight terrorism which constitutes their “common enemy” together. The statement indicates the victory of sanity over irrationality. The COAS has clarified that enhanced security measures taken along the Pak-Afghan border were aimed at fighting the common enemy who are “terrorists of all hues and colour.” Gen Bajwa has also welcomed proposals from the Afghan authorities for a result oriented coordination aimed at the elimination of terrorism. Earlier, the Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai had expressed readiness to work with Pakistan’s military and civilian government ‘at all levels’. One hopes talks will be initiated soon at the highest level between the civilian and military and leaders of both sides to devise concrete measures to reduce the prevailing tension as well as to remove the residue of doubts and suspicions between the neighbours. Peace can neither be ensured in Pakistan nor in Afghanistan unless both countries join hands to fight terrorists who are a threat to the entire region and who make use of differences between the neighbouring countries in pursuit of their perverse agenda.
There is a need to realize that there are elements on both sides that thrive on suspicions persisting between the two countries. The ones on Pakistan’ side are likely to proclaim that the conciliatory posture by Kabul has been dictated by shelling across the border and the forward positioning of Pakistan’s artillery and thus it constitutes a victory for Pakistan. Their counterparts in Afghanistan would interpret Gen Bajwa’s statement as a sign of Pakistan blinking first in the eyeball to eyeball confrontation on account of foreign pressure. As talks begin between the two countries, the lobby of mischief mongers would become more active. There is a need to realise that any move towards conciliation is a victory for both and a defeat for the terrorist networks who are common enemies of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
