Hopefully the PTI-led government in K-P realizes the mammoth task at hand. PHOTO: REUTERS/FILE
Efforts are underway to hold an All Parties Conference in the wake of this tragedy. Certain political parties have been highlighting the need to initiate talks with the TTP to secure peace in the province and the rest of the country. The efforts of the US to hold talks with the Afghan Taliban are being cited as a reference for holding negotiations with the TTP. Such comparisons are misleading and questionable. The TTP continues to reject the very basis of the Pakistani Constitution and routinely flouts federal and provincial laws. Moreover, with its sustained bombing of girls’ schools, it also undermines the state policy of providing education to all and delivering services to its citizens. Thus far, the TTP has relentlessly attacked Pakistani targets and over 40,000 lives have been lost in this process. Thousands of soldiers and officers of the Pakistan Army have also been killed by the TTP. Acceding to talks with the TTP while they reject the Constitution and the state’s territorial sovereignty would set a terrible precedent and also lead to legal complications with respect to the clearly stated constitutional provisions.
As the PTI and its allies take charge in K-P, it would be worth remembering the significance attached in the party manifesto to achieving peace within the province. Hopefully, the party realises the mammoth task at hand and manages to turn the tables around in a conflict that is becoming increasingly devastating for the province and its citizens. The elections have been over for a while now and it is time to mould rhetoric into policy and achieve results. Most importantly, it needs to review its proposed strategy to deal with the situation in the wake of the attacks on MPAs in the province.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2013.
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''Despite the victory of a pro-peace coalition and its overtures to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), militancy and violence continues unabated in the province. The recent suicide bombing in Mardan, which killed dozens, including MPA Imran Khan Mohmand, is a strong statement by the TTP that their goals are not likely to disappear because of a change in the provincial government.'' By applying the term ''pro-peace'' for the current govt. the editorial seems to imply that the previous government was anti-peace which, to be fair, is an injustice to them.what follows then is that it is not the taliban that didn't want peace rather the previous government. thus the label of pro-peace is in contradiction with the central theme of this editorial. in my view, the current government in khyber pakhtoonkhwa (and in the centre, too) should be dubbed as pro-taliban rather than pro-peace.
A fair and pragmatic editorial by ET. Taliban in Afghanistan are fighting for their native country against foreign forces. TTP are global jihadi who have waged a war on native people and Pakistani state to implement their agenda. It is a shame that they endorsed two rightwing parties in the elections and gave them a walkover to victory. Now it is payback time and their prodigies are talking against co-education and releasing extremist killers like Qadri. All the progressive forces should stand up against the foreign jihadists and terrorists who want to impose their version of religion on Islamic Republic.
Useless article ! Pakistan has played a major role in helping create the Taliban and installing them in Power in Kabul in the 90's. When the US invaded Afghanistan the Taliban fled and were sheltered and protected in Pakistan. These are facts and cannot be dry cleaned or washed away. It is natural that citizens have a soft corner for the Taliban for this very reason -- ideological affinity. Every violent militant group in the region shares the same goals and ideological orientation. One would have thought the loss of over 50,000 citizens to these murderers since 2001 would have woken up the country to the dangerous fruits sprouted by these strategic misadventures.
Instead of using the Funds provided by the US / NATO and the goodwill, in overcoming the terrorists, they were allowed to proliferate. To call TTP terrorists and Afghan Taliban patriots, defies logic and common sense. With the US / NATO gone from Afghanistan in 2014, pay back time is overdue.
The editorial is timely advise to those advocating negotiations with TTP because US is going to negotiate with Taliban. However, it is important to tell in plain words as to what are the differences between Pakistan and Afghanistan realities. Pakistan is a fully functional sovereign state with all it institutions working under the ambit of the Constitution. Its constitution has been written by Pakistani law makers and has been amended over the period of time as per the procedure laid out in it. Unprecedented voters turn out was a proof that people has rejected those forces who impose their own version of Sharia and rule on us. TTP represents small section of terrorists who have taken arms against the state. They do not enjoy legitimacy even among the people they are ruling directly in FATA.
Afghanistan, on the other hand, is not a sovereign state. It's constitution has been given by the foreigners. There democracy is not home grown. There is no genuine National Afghan leadership. Afghanistan always had very decentralized arrangement where war lords ruled most of the country and the writ of the center was limited to Kabul. Talibans in Afghanistan are considered by many observers as genuine stakeholders and enjoying some legitimacy with Afghans. Afghanistan is very different society from Pakistan.It is culturally far more conservative than Pakistan. The version of Sharia which Talibans propagate can be acceptable to Afghans but not to Pakistanis. The bottom line is that Pakistani Talibans are murderers of more than 48,000 Pakistani women, men and children. They have committed heinous crimes against the Pakistani people. Afghan Taliban on the other hand has not killed ordinary Afghans at such a massive scale.
@Z.Khan: What you say may be true at the moment but what happens after 2014? And quite frankly, we have practically reached that time NOW, with the security in Afghanistan largely in the hands of the ANSF (yes, with whatever little credibility that they actually have). Then, just tell me what is the difference between the TTP of now, and their Afghan counterparts? Each of them is basically trying to overthrow the "government" as recognized by the world as legitimate whatever its shortcomings (i.e. in Islamabad and Kabul respectively). Each group wishes to impose its version of hard-line medieval based Islam and are willing to use violence with impunity! The fact may be that the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis and Afghans respectively REJECT their version of "Islamic Government" but this is not going to make ANY difference to their thoughts and indeed, their actions on the ground. The simple reason for this is that they do NOT believe in concepts like democracy, constitution, law etc (as the civilized world like you and me see it) ... in fact the TTP in many ways reminds one of the Taliban movement between 1992 and 1996 (when they finally took over Kabul with Pakistan's help). You could well say, that the TTP are simply trying to replicate the same, using help wherever they get it from (mostly by sympathetic Pakistanis themselves). The sooner that Pakistani people realize this, the better for otherwise you (i.e. Pakistan) could well become the next Afghanistan (between 2001 and 2014... and maybe beyond).
@Syed Asad: If you read the editorial carefully it clearly distinguishes existence of both outfits. Afghan Taiban talking to occupying forces. Pakistan is an independent country with its systems working though not effectively. A small outfit on gun point wants the whole country to bow its head. Talking can be done with TTP but on which agenda and what for should be clearly defined and then be acted.
Come on ET even US are inviting Taliban for peace talks now