You pat my back, I’ll pat yours

Nisar behaved recklessly manipulative in the parliament to buy time in this regard with words, words and just words.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan surely loves his voice, but the lengthy speech that he delivered in the National Assembly Monday evening miserably failed to explain what strategy the third Nawaz government would pursue to deal with consequences triggered by the killing of TTP leader, Hakimullah Mehsud, by a drone-driven missile four days ago. He rather behaved recklessly manipulative to buy time in this regard with words, words and just words.

The first obvious attempt was to appease Imran Khan and his noisy crowd of legislators. They have been pressing the government to deny Pakistani routes for supplies to Nato troops posted in Afghanistan since the killing of Mehsud. Without admitting it sincerely, they are now having second thoughts regarding this demand. The “sensitive month of Muharram” is their excuse to defer taking a firm position. Rhetoric remains the sole weapon they want to employ against the US and its so-called war on terror. And, Imran Khan’s speech immediately after the interior minister sounded like a perfect example of ‘You pat my back, I’ll pat yours’.

If the PML-N and Imran Khan were serious to equip the nation with a viable strategy to deal with arrogant Americans, Monday was the perfect day to start the National Assembly meeting at the given time, ie, 4 pm. For more than 90 minutes, though, parliamentary reporters kept waiting for the government and the opposition legislators with anxious yawns. Both of them were certainly clueless about how to go about the assembly proceedings.

Through private contacts with the PTI leaders, in the meantime, the government emissaries kept trying hard to sell the story that a special session of the federal cabinet was required to brainstorm for the next step. The Prime Minister had gone to review a military exercise Monday morning and taking advantage of his being there, also tried to sound out the military elite on post-Mehsud scenarios. Only after a comprehensive input from them, the federal government can now devise a new strategy.

Imran Khan and his comrades heard their pleas with accommodating hearts and finally the house was summoned to facilitate rhetorical speeches by both Nisar and Imran Khan. For many more days, the rest of legislators would also be given ample time to condemn the US with thundering speeches and being mentioned in eye-catching tickers on 24/7 channels.

The truth remains that in their heart of hearts, more loyal type ministers of Nawaz Sharif firmly believe that Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan pushed the government to a tight spot with his press conference on the day after Mehsud’s killing. The foreign office babus strongly advised him to avoid naming names. But he recklessly went on to tell details of his meeting with the US ambassador. Doing so, he simply failed to fathom the reality that he had clearly revealed it to the world that the US had simply refused to accommodate Nisar’s wish that Mehsud must not be hit by a drone, while the government was trying to build bridges with the TTP.

The friends of Nisar passionately plead that with his presser on Friday evening, the interior minister did succeed in preventing bloody retaliatory actions by TTP loyalists. Many among their ranks rather feel good with him blaming the US for sabotaging the possibility of engaging Taliban in talks for peace. With the vow of blocking the NATO supplies, Imran Khan and Pervez Khattak also tried to manage calm in the province they rule, the K-P.

But sources closely monitoring the TTP chatter dismiss such stories. They rather insist that the hawks among the hardcore militants are succeeding to instill the suspicion among TTP cadres that Nawaz Sharif and his interior minister “fully knew” that drones were getting close to Mehsud and they did nothing to forewarn him”. Little wonder, the TTP is finding it extremely difficult to throw up a new leader with consensus. The “interim” head of this outfit is known for being too vicious and deadly. People close to him are loudly forewarning that after the killing of Mehsud, the PML-N, and its bastion, Punjab, could be the exclusive target of retaliatory terrorist strikes. Monitors, attached to various national security outfits, are forwarding panicky reports that have forced the Prime Minister to look for preventive measures in desperation. In spite of trying his best, the interior minister could not conceal the panic mode. It was for this reason that he kept on reminding the house that the government had to delay opening communication channels with TTP after three high profile and deadly incidents of terrorism, within days of the mandate to hold talks by the all-party conference. The government, in short, is pathetically rudderless in finding means to deal with post-Mehsud scene.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2013.