State policies should be implemented by state institutions
The leaders of the Afghan Taliban are still being hosted in Pakistan as owned last year by a candid Sartaj Aziz. As he put it “We have some influence over them because their leadership is in Pakistan and they get some medical facilities. Their families are here” There were reports last year that Mullah Haibatullah was teaching in a madrassa near Quetta months before being chosen as the new Afghan Talban’s leader. His predecessor Mullah Mansour had died in a drone attack inside Pakistan. The observations in the US State Department’s annual “Country Reports on Terrorism 2016” should therefore come as no surprise. There is also no need for self-righteous indignation or a familiar resort to the state of denial.
The section the report on Pakistan maintains that ‘significant action’ is not being taken against the militant outfits operating from ‘Pakistan-based safe havens’ to threaten the US and Afghan forces inside the neighbouring country. The report names Afghan Taliban, the Haqqani Network, Lashkar-i-Tayyiba (LT), and Jaish-i-Muhammad (JeM) as terrorist groups which use Pakistan’s territory as a launching pad. The report maintains that in the case of the last two groups, the government has failed to take any significant action other than implementing an ongoing ban against media coverage of their activities. Both LeT and JeM continue to hold rallies, raise money, recruit and train in Pakistan. The assessment is by no mean altogether incorrect.
One may agree that the country cannot take on all these networks simultaneously. But why not deal with them one by one. The Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network have allowed TTP and Jamaat-ul- Ahrar to operate from areas under the influence. The least Pakistan can do is to ensure that they are not allowed to operate from its soil. While one welcomes Operation Khyber-4, there is a need to launch a similar operations in any other pockets along the LoC where they have a presence. What is more their status as state guests enjoying various facilities must end.
When you don’t even have an actual PM and no matter who is in the office military controls your country how do you even expect to get rid of terrorists? Its never going to happen unless Pakistanis gain some sense and have a government that actually controls military not the one that takes dictation from army. Until then Pakistan will be a joke for the world. Imagine being a PM for the name sake with no powers.
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