Has the APC missed the point entirely?

The All Parties Conference (APC), held on September 9, pours more of the older wine in even older bottles. The resolution passed at the end of the conference is an inadequate response to the gravest threat faced by the country. After the death of nearly 50,000 Pakistanis (including thousands of security personnel), the civilian leaders are keen to take a populist route: of talking to those who do not believe in the process of democratic debate, negotiation and compromise. There is no harm in advancing the talks but given the fate of a dozen major and minor ‘peace agreements’, it should have been clear that this might not be the best option. The government will have to be given the due space to implement this resolution. After all, the APC comprised the elected representatives and the valid concerns of a populace tired of militancy, terrorism and instability.

At the same time, the civil-military leadership of Pakistan should be asked why they are hell-bent on misleading the people and repeating the serious mistake of linking terrorism with the US presence in Afghanistan. The incidents of violent extremism have gone up after the US invasion, but by no means is the phenomena of terrorism recent. Extremism has been a result of the state‘s policy to define itself as an anti-India, Islamic nation and harbouring illusions of being Ummah’s gatekeeper. We proudly call our nuclear capacity the ‘Islamic bomb’ and yet, we allow Shias to be killed mercilessly across the country. Instead of thinking about the ‘Islamisation’ industry built by Bhutto, Zia and subsequent rulers, our policymakers are keener to blame outsiders for the proliferation of extremist ideologies.

The APC resolution also protests the violation of Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty by US drone strikes but it says little on the violation of the state’s writ by militant groups, such as factions of the Afghan Taliban and the al Qaeda operatives who have turned North Waziristan into a no-go area. The refusal to use the word ‘militant’ is telling. Instead, the term ‘our own people of Fata’ yet again is misleading. A vast majority of the Pakhtun population in the northwest is peaceful and does not ideologically relate to the extremist worldview advanced by the Taliban, both by the Pakistani and Afghan variants. It is worrying that the state, once again, is willing to surrender in front of the militias’ network that wants to decimate it.

There are no detailed accounts of what happened within the APC but it is unclear if talking to the Taliban and giving peace a chance also includes tackling the pre-Afghan invasion menace of sectarian groups that operate with impunity across Pakistan. Groups such as the LeJ and the ASWJ are supporters of the Pakistani Taliban so will they be included in the talks as well?

Negotiations with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have repeatedly failed over the years and even when they’ve succeeded, agreements have been broken quickly. Though we are quick to cite the example of the British negotiating with the IRA, a simple fact is forgotten that the IRA laid down weapons before negotiating. The TTP maintain that they want to first review progress in talks before considering the option of giving up their arms. The one silver lining of the APC concerned the support to the government’s efforts to curb the violence in Balochistan and empowering its chief minister “to initiate the process of dialogue with all estranged Baloch elements, inside and outside of the country, with a view to bring them back to the national mainstream”. But this is not as simple as it sounds in the well-intentioned phrasing.

The Taliban also operate in Karachi; will the state involve these factions into the talks’ process too? Similarly, the patrons of the Pakistani Taliban operate in Balochistan. How would they be treated in the coming weeks? All these questions and concerns admittedly will be addressed in the weeks to come. If the purpose of the talks offer is to give a chance for peace as a precursor to an operation, then why waste precious time and effort of state officials?

The APC has, once again, sidelined the key dilemmas of Pakistan’s security policy. The Pakistani Taliban are not isolated from their Afghan counterparts. They share the same ideology and according to some, they support each other when required. The Afghan Taliban are central to our national security policy of countering Indian influence in Afghanistan. This fiction of good and bad Taliban must end now. Pakistan has to learn from its unwise policies of the last three decades. By nourishing proxies, it has endangered the future of its state and citizens. Should the revision of this toxic policy not be the foremost priority? Are the civilians, once again, relinquishing charge? The coming months will tell.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2013.

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