Complex problems require complex solutions and these should include all options.
WASHINGTON DC: The key point that came out of the All Parties Resolution this past week was that the government would try and talk to the Taliban and other extremists. I cannot understand why this would be tried now because to the Taliban it would indicate that the government is weak on fighting terrorism and militancy.
We all know that peace was given a chance – in Swat, and look what the militants did with it. In fact, peace has been given many chances, and the extremists always interpret these deals as the state’s weakness, and use it to consolidate their power, to regroup and to ultimately expand their territory of influence and control.
Peace deals from a position of weakness are equivalent to surrender and relinquishing state’s legitimacy and authority. We can win permanent peace only if we negotiate it after establishing ascendancy and dominance. Look at what happened in Sri Lanka, during a civil war of 25 years which included initially various peace deals by the state, which enabled the LTTE to get ever more powerful. Only when the resolve and resources of the Sri Lankan state were used to the fullest extent possible, were the Tamil Tigers given a death blow and after that the conflict ended. Now the country has a permanent and durable peace. That is what we need to replicate in Pakistan. We can negotiate all we want, but after we have the Taliban and their various allies on the run, so that we will talk to them on our terms. If we don’t do that, we could well have a situation like what happened in Swat after the so-called peace deal there, when the Taliban refused to lay down their arms and got so emboldened that they overran Buner and Dir.
Complex problems require complex solutions and these should include all options. Let’s hope that our decision-makers do not repeat the same mistakes that they did in 2006 in Waziristan and in 2009 in Swat.
Jawad U Rehman
Published in The Express Tribune, October 3rd, 2011.
