Filming death

The Taliban recently released a video showing the brutal execution of 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel.

Many people in this country seem to have an odd definition of sovereignty: to them its violation seems to be applied selectively. Thus, the Nato attack on Salala checkpost counts as an aggressive violation of our sovereignty — which it undoubtedly was — and a possible act of war but when the Taliban, who are harbouring many foreign militants in their midst, release a video showing their brutal execution of 15 Frontier Constabulary personnel, their actions barely solicit a yawn. This double standard translates into misguided policy. We have taken punitive action against the US for the Salala raid; cutting off land routes for Nato supplies into Turkey. The Taliban, meanwhile, end up being rewarded and have legitimacy conferred on them as the government treats them like an equal by inviting them to peace talks. What this video should teach us is a lesson that we should have already learned. We are locked in an intractable battle against an enemy that does abide by the rules of war. An enemy like that cannot be trusted at the negotiating table. This is something that should have been clear from previous peace deals, which the Taliban merely used as a breather to allow them to regroup stronger than ever. This has been a lesson we have studiously ignored. If we refuse to listen to the strategic case for refusing peace overtures, perhaps now the moral case can be more persuasive.

This video, we can be sure, will be used for propaganda purposes by the Taliban. Other Taliban and al Qaeda factions will watch the executions of the FC men and celebrate it as something to emulate. Rather than become further fodder for the Taliban propaganda mill, the civilian and military leadership needs to stop being so indecisive about their options in the fight against militancy. The fact is that peace will only be achieved through a military rout of the Taliban, with the dangling of the negotiation carrot coming only later, to a weakened enemy.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2012.