ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to Ayesha Ijaz Khan’s article of October 18 titled “Giving peace a chance”. There are probably different ways to bell a cat. What matters is that you succeed. Military operations by Nato and our own forces have not succeeded in stemming the tide of extremism. Nor did Osama bin Laden’s elimination dampen jihadi fervour.
The US authorities were so fearful of any symbolism that they did not want to leave any physical trace of bin Laden. The Americans are tired of the war in Afghanistan and want to leave. The Europeans are even more sceptical of success. Will negotiations with the militants bring peace? While one may have doubts on this, it would not be wise to rule this out. Can talks take place while fighting is continuing? Yes, history is full of such precedents. So let us not belittle the call for giving peace a chance. The fact that the All Parties Conference accepted the idea and passed a resolution in this regard, says something about the general mood in a country suffering from war fatigue.
M Saeed Khalid
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2011.
