It seems that the majority doesn’t understand the complexity of the situation and its consequences.
ISLAMABAD: Our pseudo liberals seem to be under the impression that in the tribal areas of Pakistan, there lies a clearly marked boundary. On one side, we have the good guys and on the other, the bad guys. If Imran Khan agrees to army action, Nawaz Sharif shall pass the orders and the military will take care of the rest. Peace shall be restored and Pakistan will be back to how it used to be.
It seems that the majority doesn’t understand the complexity of the situation and its consequences. If a war has to be fought, we must know our enemy in order to fight it. The TTP is not a uniform organisaion with its headquarters in South Waziristan and battalions deployed all over Pakistan. According to the DG ISI’s briefing to the recently-held APC, the TTP now comprises 59 groups. It has its allies spread throughout Pakistan in the form of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvis and the Sipah-e-Sahabas. Such an enemy cannot be fought through a military assault on its headquarters alone. The war has to be fought in the cities of Pakistan, its streets and markets, in its mosques and churches, in its garrisons and police stations and on its playgrounds and in its parks. There are divergent opinions on the capacity of our law-enforcement agencies to fight such a war with battle-hardened extremists.
In the aftermath of the tragic attacks in Peshawar, just about everyone has turned into a Sultan Rahi. Social media warriors are having a field day on Facebook and Twitter. When the army started the operation in Swat, the Taliban would announce on radio the names of children of the army officers taking part in the operation and the schools in which they studied. Are we ready then to suffer such consequences? Are we ready to see more videos of beheadings? It is easy to tweet about it as long as it is someone else’s young son on the wrong side of the sword in a leaked video.
Let us not get into politics over a matter of our existence and our future. Talks or no talks, playing politics over human lives is despicable. If Imran Khan is responsible for the deaths of hundreds who have died since the PTI took charge of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, then Asfandyar Wali is responsible for the thousands who died when the ANP was in power.
All facts and questions must be considered carefully before adopting a particular line of action. The prime minister needs to take a decision and then stick to it. People voted him into power and he has their mandate — he does not need to make everyone happy.
Mohammad Zohair Javed
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2013.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
