Given the military have cornered Mehsud in one part of S. Waziristan, isn’t this the best time to crush the Taliban?
LAHORE: This is with reference to your report of January 3 titled “’Secret talks’ with Taliban reach decisive phase”. The report says that the Taliban have split into several factions compared to the past and stand considerably weakened. It also suggests that TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud is not part of the talks and that the government and the military have cornered him in one part of South Waziristan. Given this background, why would the government or the military even want to talk to the Taliban? Isn’t this the best time to crush them? Doesn’t our past history of failed deals and agreements with the Taliban and other militants tell us that we shouldn’t be repeating such mistakes? After all, the only thing that they will do with this is to reorganise and regroup, and emerge stronger.
Hisham Iqbal
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2012.
