[Dawn] PAKISTAN is at war with itself on many fronts. It is not only a battle for its soul but also for its very existence. But the battle is already half lost when there is confusion in the ranks about who is the enemy and fear paralyses the will to fight.The declaration of the recent multiparty conference, called by Maulana Fazlur Rahman's Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Islam, on peace talks with the Taliban was virtually a signing of a surrender document -- weak politicianship buying security for themselves, leaving the people at the mercy of terrorists.
Less than a week after the declaration supporting virtually unconditional negotiations with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain, the forces of Evil struck again by blowing up, in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, an entire block of apartments predominantly inhabited by the Shia community. There was no claim of responsibility for the gruesome attack that killed scores of men, women and kiddies.
But the footprints lead to a Taliban aligned sectarian outfit. Last week another bombing destroyed a mosque in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
killing several worshippers. The wages of appeasement are leading to the loss of more innocent lives and pushing the country towards more instability.
Not only did the conference concede to the Taliban's conditions for so-called peace negotiations, it even dropped the word terrorism to mollify those responsible for murder. The killings of thousands of people were instead attributed to "lawlessness", absolving the Taliban of suicide kabooms and beheadings of security personnel for whom they themselves had claimed the responsibility.
Nothing could be more farcical than the conference declaration that reduced the whole issue of myrmidon violence to a war between the Taliban and the army. For peace, it declared, it is essential to bring the two sides to the negotiating table. The fact that the TTP and its allies have declared a war on the Pak state was completely ignored by the participants in their eagerness to placate the Taliban.
The five-point declaration seems to be a part of the move by the political parties to distance themselves from the military operations against the forces of Evil in Fata.
Thousands of soldiers have been killed fighting the forces of Evil who had turned the already lawless region into a new hub of terrorism presenting an existentialist threat not only to Pakistain, but also challenging regional security.
Nothing can be more treacherous than legitimising the violence and absolving those responsible for the death of thousands of Paks. No wonder the Taliban have welcomed the multiparty declaration which has virtually validated the terms set by the banned terrorist outfits.
One can understand the defence of the Taliban by the JUI-F and other right-wing Islamic parties, who have contributed to the rise of myrmidon narratives in this country.
But the signing of the declaration by parties like the Pakistain Peoples Party, Awami National Party,
Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
's Pakistain Moslem League and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement
...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead...
is quite shocking.
Although there is no formal government approval for the declaration, the participation of the members of the coalition at the conference provides tacit support to the peace talks. This has created huge confusion about the government's position on fighting myrmidon violence and the nature of the threat confronted by the country.
The peace talks would apparently be conducted by a tribal jirga under the supervision of the newly appointed governor of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central...
, providing some kind of official sanction to the initiative. Although the formal negotiations have yet to start because of the non-response from the army leadership, the declaration seems to have already adversely affected the counterterrorism efforts of the security agencies.
The recent terrorist attacks in Karachi and Peshawar are glaring examples of unrelenting violence despite the peace talk offer by the Taliban. For sure there is a strong nexus between the TTP and the sectarian groups involved in the large-scale killing of Shias across the country.
What makes the declaration more absurd is that it makes a peace deal, if it happens, binding on any future government. These kinds of guarantees are obviously not going to work. But they can certainly be used by the forces of Evil to strengthen their position.
It is so obvious that the purpose of the multiparty conference, so close to the elections, was to mollify the Taliban to get them to halt violence during the election campaign. But there is no indication, yet, that there will be any respite in terrorist attacks particularly those directed at the parties on the Taliban hit list.
The forces of Evil have warned that they will continue to target the ANP, the MQM and the PPP, which unfortunately are also signatories to the declaration. Undoubtedly, the ANP has suffered the most with myrmidon violence gripping Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. But it now appears to have relented after the liquidation of its senior party leaders.
The effort to buy security through appeasement is certainly not going to work. Instead it will result in more insecurity. The Taliban and their allies only seek to buy time through engaging in so-called peace talks to create more space to expand their activities, as they have done in the past.
There seems no possibility of the peace talks taking off, but the declaration has further widened the gulf between the politicianship and the military with disastrous consequences for Pakistain's battle against militancy and terrorism. Most definitely security forces cannot fight the enemy without political support. The multiparty conference has exposed the civil and military divide that has consistently hampered the formulation of a coherent counterterrorism strategy.
While most political parties, either out of fear or driven by political expediency, pursue a policy of capitulation, the military's ambivalence on militancy and sources of extremism has contributed to the current paralysis of policymaking. It is the main reason for the failure to build a national narrative so important to ridding the country of the menace of terrorism and extremism.