"We need to deradicalise these groups and try and mainstream them before attempting to disarm them. This is important as we can’t fight on too many fronts and layers at the same time," explained one former officer.
The directives by Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
leader Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat...
to his men to contest elections under the banner of a new party he has created is seen as one such step. Moreover, this newspaper has carried news stories that another murderous Moslem leader, Maulana Fazlur Rehman Khalil
...one of the signers of Osama bin Laden's declaration of war against Christians and Jews back in 1998, when he was head of the Bangla jihad movement. The Pak govt's had him under
house arresta few times, but he seems to come and go as he pleases and remains the head of Harkat ul-Mujaheddin...
, is also on the verge of launching a political party for mainstream, electoral politics.
It isn’t clear how would these murderous Moslem groups-turned-political parties will react if they make no headway in electoral politics and their first attempts to secure seats in parliament to enforce their Islamic agenda are frustrated. Will they keep faith in the democratic process and persist or revert to jihad ‐ this time here?
Even if there is a desire in each state institution to brush away the mess created by decades of near-suicidal policies and start with a clean slate, it won’t be easy. And if state institutions continue to differ on the way forward even now then help us God.
In terms of the global environment, China may appear as if it is in our corner vis-à-vis the US but it would be foolish to assume Beijing’s tolerance threshold for religious militancy in Pakistain would be any different to Washington’s. Hope the policymakers understand this.